Meeting local biz and possible competitors

[Kyle Westerman]

This week my community is having a meeting at a local coffee shop to get to know the neighbors. We were invited and we have a vacation property/STR in the community. We know there are other STR owners blocks away from us and theirs opportunity to meet them as well as other business owners? If you were me, how would you prepare for this networking event? What outcomes would try to accomplish after event? If you met the other STR owners, would you introduce yourself to them as another STR rental owner too? How would you approach that conversation if you did?

[Abel Curiel]

Quote from @Kyle Westerman:

This week my community is having a meeting at a local coffee shop to get to know the neighbors. We were invited and we have a vacation property/STR in the community. We know there are other STR owners blocks away from us and theirs opportunity to meet them as well as other business owners? If you were me, how would you prepare for this networking event? What outcomes would try to accomplish after event? If you met the other STR owners, would you introduce yourself to them as another STR rental owner too? How would you approach that conversation if you did?

 Hello Kyle and welcome to the BP forums!

Great questions...

I would prepare by trying to find out who all will be at the networking event. Find out which business will be hosting, sponsoring, attending. 

As far as outcomes... the goal would be to simply make quality connections with people and exchange some form of contact information with those quality connections. Thats the first step... step 2 is the hardest which is to keep in touch with everyone.

This is not to be mistaken with the act of printing dozens of business cards and handing them out to everyone you shake hands with. In my opinion, that is a total waste.

Instead, I would pay 100% attention to who I am speaking with at the time, remember their name, remember 1-2 talking points about them. Contribute to the conversation but try not to take over... let them speak the majority of the time and ask questions... get curious!

If the conversation is substantial, add them on social media, collect their name, email & phone number and share yours as well. 

If speaking with another STR owner, I would introduce myself as a fellow investor/STR owner. If you get a sketchy vibe from anyone, no need to divulge too much information but my guess is that sketchy people would not want to check out a networking event in a small community. Again, get curious about the people you're speaking with. If the conversation gears towards STRs, share 1-2 tips/anecdotes that can add value to them... the same can be applied to other business owners/contacts made during the meeting.

You can't go wrong with adding value and expressing genuine interest in what others have going on.

You may not have much time to read these before your meeting... but below are 2 books that have changed the way I look at networking events... you can also search these on Youtube for book summaries!

- How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie

- Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Keep us posted on how it goes at the meeting!

Abel