Nine Ways to Improve Your Real Estate Conference Networking
by Christopher Levarek
“Pulling a good network together takes effort, sincerity and time.”
Alan Collins
I’m writing this blog after recently attending a real estate conference in Manhattan Beach, California. Like many of you, as of January 2022, I haven’t been attending many events due to the pandemic in 2020/2021 and so it was a breath of fresh air to get out and start connecting again. Online networking has its benefits but there really isn’t a replacement for being able to meet someone fact to face.
After two days and three nights of meeting with near 90 of the 250 people in attendance, many whom I knew only virtually, I can’t believe it took me so long to get back out there. It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time to be sure!
Let me give you few tips on how to take your networking or conference skills to the next level from my personal experience. Here are nine recommended methods to 10x your real estate conference or meetup networking efforts.
Nine Ways to Improve Your Real Estate Conference Networking
Have a Game Plan
This goes without saying. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. If you go into a networking event with no plan, I can assure you, you will ride the wave with the crowd to wherever it takes you. Sometimes that can be ok, most of the time, you will walk away from the event wishing you had done or said something or, more probably, met some key person you missed meeting.
So make the game plan on who you want to meet, what you will do when you meet people and what you need to talk about or hear.
Have Your Contact Information Ready
Always come to an event with some form of contact info you can hand out. Whether you create a nice business card on paper or go digital with a social media profile or digital business card, it matters. The human brain can only remember about 4 minutes for short term, which mean one conversation. This means, if you don’t get your information to someone, easily, or you don’t get someone’s contact info easily, did you really network?
I can not tell you how many people I meet at meetups or conferences who have no business card or even method of giving contact info.
Tip for Going Digital : Use apps like HiHello or Linqapp to set up a Digital business card which can easily send contact info via text, QR code or email. These apps then allow the recipient to even respond with their info, thus guaranteeing you get something even if THEY were not ready with their own card. No paper needed.
Know your Top 5 : The Sniper Approach
If you are going to a real estate conference and spending money, come up with the top 5 or even 10 people you need to meet. This is called the sniper approach. You are going in knowing your designated target.
In this manner, you will almost always be able to meet those top 5 because they are the priority. Any person you meet after is icing on the cake, and you will leave the meetup that much more satisfied.
Quality over Quantity
In tandem to the point above, when spending money for a conference, make sure you are having quality conversations. If you meet 100 people, yet each conversation lasted only 5 minutes, did you really achieve anything? Perhaps you now have 100 new contacts, but without forming some sort of connection, there really isn’t much value you there.
On the contrary, if you let conversation develop with the right people(who you want to meet), and connect over similar values or work/hobbies topics, these relationships can lead to much more. This is how opportunities, partnerships and deals are built, on quality conversation.
Put the Phone Down
Remember to put the phone down. Don’t be that person in the corner, browsing social media. Or the one talking to their friend back home while valuable networking is going on. Get up off the chair, go into the crowd, and introduce yourself.
No one will find you, you have to find yourself, more specifically “your voice”. And you find yourself by speaking to others. You will never get good at networking, until you network, so put the phone down.
Take Notes
Remember what I said about short term memory? It’s short! Take notes as much as you can after you speak with someone or even during. If someone mentions some key detail, jot it down. Trust me the person is not going to be offended that you are writing down what they just said. You will thank yourself later when you review your notes and find those gold nuggets of information.
Be Polite
This one seems obvious, but I often see people just come up and ask someone a question. No introduction and often even interrupting an already present conversation in place with someone else!
Quality conversation starts with introducing yourself, waiting until someone’s ready and not leading with a question so you can move on once you have your answer. Be polite and treat others with respect.
Take Pictures
Alright, this one is tough for me. I’m not big on showcasing my journey, but I’m working on getting better at it. This is a huge part of networking however! If you do not take pictures of you and that person you met, you are missing out on quality branding material for your business or marketing efforts.
Having a picture with that conference speaker or partner can tell your network online that you are active in the space and set the image you are trying to build.
So if you in anyway trying to gain clients, raise capital, build a brand or market any product, take pictures of yourself and others at the event to use later.
Follow Up
So the event is winding down and you have a bunch of new contacts with notes on varying topics. Now is the time to follow up! Maybe send a thank you note to the person via social media, after you connect, about the event and the conversation.
With those key people that you met, follow up with an ask if desired to include a follow up call, meeting or discuss that potential opportunity/partnership. If you don’t follow up, your connection goes cold and a cold network connection isn’t as easy to pick up as one that is fresh from a recent event.
In Final
You only get better at networking by networking. So my recommendation is take the above tips and go to that meetup or conference. Then go to another and another until you become the master of networking. After having been part of countless meetups and events after three years, I can honestly say that it is by far the most lucrative action you will take to further your goals.
So what events will you attend in 2022? Maybe I’ll see you there!