How to use a social event to promote your business

Parties are a great way to meet new people and develop new relationships; whether they be professional relationships, personal relationships, friendships or what ultimately never develops any further than an acquaintance. Lots of people choose to attend parties as a way to build new friendships or as a way to meet potential partners; however there are less people who look to a party as a means of expanding their working network and potentially securing new work. The same is true for a variety of other social events such as an evening of cocktails and canapés, the opening of an arts exhibition, a village fete or even a book signing – it is more common for individuals to view these events as an opportunity to develop their social network, as opposed to their business network.

Social events can prove to be extremely useful however for promoting your company or business, and for obtaining a range of contacts that may end up being invaluable to you in the future. A friend of mine for example runs her own hair salon. We both attended a village evening soiree a while ago, which was attended by about 180 people from local villages. My friend is very sociable and so she found it easy to chat to people and mingle amongst all of these strangers. She chatted to them, taking a real interest in them and in their lives. Some new potential friendships were formed, telephone numbers were swapped, and I admired the way that she took to a social scene so easily. What I didn’t realise however is that if the conversation swayed towards what she did to make a living, as it inevitably often did, she’d chat to them about the hair salon and would say to them to pop in for a coffee and take a little look around. Or she’d produce a little business card and tell them to swing by – that she’d offer them a discount, or that she’d cut their children’s hair free of charge. Over the next few weeks her business doubled, and she formed a couple of strong, solid friendships too.

Where my friend got it right her was the fact that she followed some basic but invaluable rules of informal networking:

  1. She attended an event where she knew that a large number of people who were potential customers for her would also be.
  2. She was genuine. In reality she wanted to know about these people with whom we shared our little village, and she took a real and genuine interest in their lives. Therefore, the people she spoke to warmed to her.
  3. At no point did anyone feel as if they were being ‘sold’ to.
  4. She was prepared. She had the business cards with her, they were kept in an accessible pocket, and they were sufficiently discreet and small to be able to pass them out at the party without it appearing inappropriate. She also knew what discount or deals she could offer others, so that they could roll smoothly off of her tongue when she put them forward as suggestions in her conversations.
  5. She stuck to her word. When these new found friends or acquaintances turned up at her salon, she offered them that coffee / discount / child hair do, and she did it all with an easy smile.

Think about how these principles could help you expand your business or client contact list in the future.