I had a call today with one of my clients, who is a new life coach based in Scotland. She started working with me in September, and she wanted more clients. Now, two months later, she is already getting a lot of calls booked. “It is really thanks to you that I am getting so many new clients”, she said today. I said, that is very kind of you, but I think you are wrong. “You are doing very well”, I replied, “But that is all down to your own hard work.” Of course, our sessions had helped her. But the main ingredient that was hugely instrumental in my client’s success was her bravery and discipline to reach out to her local network, and show up in-person. In-person networking as a marketing tool is powerful when you are just starting out, but often underrated.

This is why you should close your laptop right now, and go face-to-face.

When Judith came to me, she told me she needed 250 extra hours of coaching under her belt in order to get her accreditation. She knew little about marketing in general, let alone social media or SEO, and she hoped I could help her with that. She wanted more clarity around her unique message as a coach and how she helped people, and be able to communicate this clearly with the world. We did the ground work, created an elevator pitch, dived into her values, added the word ‘transformational’ before ‘life coach’, and worked on her website. We made her marketing message sound to-the-point which made her feel confident and more focused.

Feeling shy and awkward at in-person networking events

In between our calls she was throwing out lines to various local organisations, and signed up for in-person Networking Events. She was very proactive, something that will always get you the best results when working with a coach. Within weeks she had meetings booked with a school for group coaching, with a business startup programme, and with another team also looking for a coach. She knew how to communicate what she did and how she helped people, because now she had a much clearer elevator pitch, and felt happy to share her website with people.

She said: “You, know, the penny dropped after one of our sessions, when you said that I am my own advert. I realised that you were right, that I am not selling products, but that I am selling my personal brand, as a life coach. Therefore, walking around at networking events I have to make an impression, and resonate with potential clients through how I show up and speak to them.”

What worked well in her case? It was not just the fact that she went to those networking events. You can turn up, after all, but not get anything out of it.

Many people hate networking events. Why? They feel shy because they find it awkward speaking to people they don’t know. They feel weird going to these things alone. And they are scared that they make a fool of themselves or that they don’t know what to say. They feel like an impostor who has nothing to contribute. The secret? Clarity and confidence around what it is you do and who you help.

Practice your elevator pitch

If you have an elevator pitch, you never feel flustered and looking for words. “What is it that you do?” people often ask me. “Oh, thank you for asking“, I would reply. “I help creative entrepreneurs and small businesses who don’t know much about marketing and need a strategy to attract more clients. I do this by offering 1-to-1 coaching programmes online to English-speaking people all over the world.”

Once you know what to say, you’ll never fear using in-person networking as a marketing tool again. It is all down to that. And the real golden tip is always: ask questions to others, if you are lost for words. People love talking about themselves and will feel flattered when someone is actively listening to them. By listening and asking about their business, you will find out a lot about them, and will quickly gather whether someone could either be a potential customer/client, or if they know other people who would be interesting to connect to.

Yes, we can get clients through social media. Yes, we can get clients through brilliant SEO. Most of my own clients come to me through the search engines. Not every business is going to get clients from in-person networking events. But you know what? Showing up at those face-to-face meetings and gatherings, practicing your elevator pitch, and talking to strangers, will boost your confidence as an entrepreneur.

The more you do it, the less you feel out of place. You start to recognise faces, you start to feel OK to walk up to someone new and introduce yourself. You may even put yourself forward as the next keynote speaker. So put down that laptop sometimes, and go out there.

Need help with accountability and how to put your passion into words?

The post Why you need in-person networking as a marketing tool appeared first on The Creative Business Coach.