Of course, networking is all about connecting with people and that’s really not something you can hand off to someone else. However, there are things that a Virtual Assistant can do to make your networking more effective.
Before you attend a networking event, after a networking event and even during the event there are things a Virtual Assistant can do to make your networking more effective and to give you time to focus on the event rather than have you trying to run your business at the same time.
Before the event your Virtual Assistant can:
- Register your attendance, book your seats, organise meals and deal with any special requirements
- Put the meeting details in your diary
- Check out your fellow attendees (if an attendee list is available) and make note of anyone you might particularly want to make contact with.
- Organise transport to the event, or pre-book parking if you’re driving
- Make sure you have business cards and flyers on hand and organise printing of more if necessary
After the event your Virtual Assistant can:
- Organise follow up meetings with anyone you want to catch up 1 on 1 with
- Send LinkedIn connection requests to anyone you want to connect with
- Scan and file business cards in your CRM or address book
- Type up and organise notes you’ve taken or recorded during the event
- Go through the final list of attendees and note anyone you wanted to connect with but didn’t manage to catch. Then organise an email, telephone conversion or coffee meeting to connect later.
As well as all the above, while you’re at the event your Virtual Assistant can keep an eye on your incoming emails and handle any urgent queries by either answering the questions, or contacting you or another staff member if it is a true emergency that needs to be handled immediately. Your Virtual Assistant can also send out any information you promise to people you meet at the event, making you seem super-efficient.
Is there anything (other than the actual networking) that you’d love to be able to get off your plate? If so, have a chat to your Virtual Assistant and they may be able to help you. If you don’t have a Virtual Assistant but would like to have a chat about how a Virtual Assistant could help you, drop me a line and we can have a chat about what would work best for you.
