By Community Correspondent David Wimblett

Put up your hand if you have been to a networking event, enjoyed a glass of wine, some great food, met some brilliant business people and collected a pocket full of business cards, only to discover later that actually you hadn’t made one good long term contact, let alone found any business.

Well, you are not alone. Most people who attend networking events, especially if it’s their first time, discover afterwards that all they really had was a good time. They went to a social, not a business meeting.

To my mind there are two main reasons for this result. One, very few people go to a networking event with a plan, and two, most people at the event are trying to sell something, not buy.

So, to make the most of every networking event that you attend you must know why you are going. You need a goal!

Now your plan doesn’t have to be too elaborate but it needs to be more than 'I’ll turn up and see who I bump into'. Think about what you want to achieve. After all, you have chosen networking as part of your marketing strategy and it costs money. Who do you want to meet and what are you going to say to them? Most good networking events, like the ‘Best of Richmond’ send out a list of all the people attending before the event. Study it and decide who you would like to meet and if you are not too confident about just going up to them and saying ‘Hello’ ask your host to introduce you.

Your plan could be even more straightforward. How about trying the following? Meet three people you don’t know, collect five business cards of people you can follow up later, give out 10 business cards, find out something new about someone you already know is also at the event.

But whatever your plan is, don’t ‘push’ the sale. Why? Because your aim at any ‘open’ networking event is to come away with contacts that you can start to build a relationship with.

And, if you would like to try a networking event where people are keen to help you and build really long-term mutually rewarding relationships then try a referral organisation, such as BNI.

So, have a goal, have fun, don’t spend too much time at the food table, and you will soon begin to benefit from the results of successful networking.

Written by David Wimblett, Director of Imperial Printers,Twickenham and BNI Regional Director for London North West