It will surprise few of you to know that I refused, that would really not be a sensible way to do things, so why do many people take the same approach when networking?
Often, someone will walk into a networking event, walk up to someone they don’t know and try to sell them their product, business opportunity or service. “That’s all right,” they say, “we are at these events to do business so I need to sell my business to whoever will listen.” Of course in some ways this is true, but there is certainly a better way to go about things.
Relationships
Networking is all about building relationships. We do business with people who we know, like and who are like us. Networking is about having conversations to find common ground with people so that they become people that we like. Networking is about forming trust and helping one another toward our goals; it is not about throwing our product or service at everyone in the room and just seeing where it sticks.
The party
Let me give you another “real world example”; your friend invites you to a party. As you arrive your friend introduces you to a friend of theirs. You say hello and shake hands and then immediately dig in your pocket, find the sample widget you have been designing and tell them they look like they need to buy one. I am not sure you would be invited back to too many parties.
Let’s consider that you get over that first hurdle. You are introduced to someone new and spend some time talking to them and getting to know them and decide that you have some common interests and that they would get on with some of your friends you are seeing the next day. So you invite them to come out to lunch with you and meet these friends. When they arrive, you and a couple of friends corner them in the lobby to talk about widgets and tell them that the lunch is actually only for widget owners so they had better buy one from you before they join you for lunch. Again, probably not going to win you too many friends or have you selling too many widgets?
Instead, they arrive at lunch, you all have a great time and the conversation flows. At some point they are going to ask you “So what do you do for business?” and, because you have made them feel so welcome and comfortable, they are very likely to be thinking “I must see what I can do to help this person”. When you then show them the widget they will be thinking whether they need one or whether they can think of anyone else who might. Even if they do not buy the widget immediately, they are more likely to use you when they have a need for your product and service and they are likely to refer other people to you.
Long Term Approach
In just the same way, networking is about forming those relationships that are going to be mutually beneficial. You may not get business from networking immediately and it is not a ‘quick fix’ for your business but the business that you do get is more likely to lead to word-of-mouth referrals and repeat customers as the initial transaction is built on trust and a genuine interest in your business. | 
