Do something that may be out of your comfort zone today…grow…help…do something…for someone else, the environment, yourself!

I wanted to quickly post a few thoughts about vendor fairs, networking, marketing here.

I’ll be the first to admit, I am no networking expert.
In fact, I never do any local networking (something I need to work on); however, I do know certain things that should or shouldn’t be said or done.

Do not lie or misrepresent your product or service. If it’s a green event for example, make sure your product is green and do not tell event coordinators that it will be and then try to slide in something that isn’t…That’s just not cool nor acceptable. Ultimately it makes you and your business look bad.

If you do attempt to do the above mentioned, then make sure you know the product that you’re trying to claim you have to offer. Do not try to fit into an event that you really have no right being in and try to justify it by using terminology that is soooooooooooooo incorrect that it’s so sad it’s almost entertaining. (FYI: there is a HUGE difference in the words biodegradable and combustible. I personally would not want something wrapped in a combustible bag, but if it was in fact in a biodegradable bag you’d probably have a better chance at selling it to me.)
note: it is a dead give away that you’ve lied/misrepresented yourself when you use way off terminology thinking that, that somehow makes your product appropriate for the event.

Shake hands with people…or like yesterday, there was a lot of hugging, cheek kissing going on. Many of the people yesterday were people that knew each other previously be it in person or online via Facebook and Twitter.
Not saying you have to kiss, hug everyone because well you don’t want to scare people off being overly affectionate if you don’t know them, but you do want to at least shake hands and be interactive with people.

If you’re at an event and don’t try to make contact with people, talk to them, shake hands, go out and mingle while you have someone else watch your table (if at a fair) you’ll not get the contacts and/or business you would if you’d make yourself approachable.

Don’t stand (or sit) behind your table the entire time. If someone comes to your table, get up and talk to them, be friendly, smile, interact. Even if the person isn’t buying something on spot, still treat them as a potential client, contact or one that you can build a relationship with that can benefit you both in the future. If you just sit there and do nothing, people will talk about you but not in a favorable manner.

Don’t look down on people based on how they may dress or speak. If you judge someone by their appearance you may just miss out on one of your best clients. You never know what a person is really about based on clothing, or outwardly appearance. So, rather than look down upon people thinking that somehow for whatever reason you’re above them, why not get to genuinely know the people at the event rather than having multiple people talk about how cold, snobby you projected yourself to be. You only have one first impression and if you come across snobby and don’t make an effort to talk to anyone, they’ll remember you and again not for the reasons you want them to remember you.

Exchange business cards with everyone at the event. Make sure to always have ample supply of cards with you (hmmm I, myself, should’ve taken more time in preparing yesterday because I ran out the door to get things set up and lo and behold my stack of cards was left at home–fortunately though it’s easy to tell people to go to TaraBurner.com -now if they just remember how to spell Tara Burner!) So, always always have business cards on you!

Step out of your comfort zone. You may just be amazed at how welcome your product/service is. I’ll be blogging more this week on a particular vendor who did her first event yesterday and was inspiring, friendly, did all the right things…and she was a first timer.

So, at events…network, be personable, make contacts, exchange business cards, be friendly, talk to as many people as you can, don’t put yourself on a pedestal, be honest and enjoy!