I just got back from the Women’s President Organization conference in Fort Lauderdale, heading to WBENC in Salt Lake City June 15th. I noticed that businesses my size are cutting in-person events completely in the face of some market uncertainty – they’re saying “nope, can’t go, not doing it.” But when I showed up, I saw two types: those whose businesses are thriving so marketing expense isn’t an issue, and those who despite the economy still spend on marketing and visibility. Here’s the stat that matters: 40% of prospects convert to clients in person versus 16% digitally. That’s a massive conversion cliff. In-person still works, still converts.

Showing Up Without a Strategy Is Marketing Suicide

First cringe-worthy mistake? Showing up without a plan. If you don’t know who you’re meeting, why, what you’re saying, and haven’t made strategy around how they’ll be useful to your business and how that interaction converts, you’re wasting time. It’s showing up and throwing up. That’s what 90% of my clients do before they meet me. Just like chocolate on your table isn’t a trade show strategy, just showing up isn’t strategy. You need a super niche – what industry you’re targeting and what’s the number one differentiated pain point you help solve. My reason for going to WPO? Meet the sponsors – largest financial institutions in the US, interacting among a very small group of high net worth women business owners. Specifically, I was there to make sponsorship connections for running CEO Executive Roundtables. These are client conversion events and one of my best business funnels. My networking strategy: I knew who to approach and exactly what to say, and it worked.

Quality Over Quantity

Second cringeworthy networking mistake: blindly collecting cards, going to as many breakouts and parties as possible while trying to meet as many people as possible. I always say–choose Quality of contact versus the quantity. I by no means talked to everybody, nor did I even try. Instead, do the pre-research. Who’s going to be there? Who’s sponsoring? In fact, what I help clients do is to pick events where their target clients will be, then I have them reach out and send door openers relevant to the prospect’s business pain. Then at the event, walk up to the target prospect and say “hey, did you get the mystery gift? I’m the one who sent it.” In-person builds trust way quicker than anything digital could.

Ask for the Appointment Right There

Third mistake: collecting cards and disappearing. I don’t even take cards anymore. If I’m networking, I already know who I’m connecting with. Then I ask my target prospect for appointment right away because if what I’m saying isn’t useful or relevant, I don’t want to meet anyway. Out of four major financial institutions at trade show floor, only one refused to give me an appointment at the show. A clear indication that she didn’t see value or wasn’t the right person for my offer. But everybody else who saw value gave me appointment right then and there. Here’s how you ask: “Our schedules are going to get nuts as soon as we walk out of here – can I get into your appointment book?” Nobody who sees value will refuse to book an appointment with you.

Your Weak Pitch Is Why AI Can’t Find You Either

Fourth mistake: weak pitching. If you’re too generic, not super niched, AI can’t find you. AI is looking for one thing: expertise. A company or name associated over and over on the internet. It’s looking for the super niched concept of the problem and the pain point that you solve for a very specific industry. If you’re too generic, AI can’t find you, can’t recommend you, doesn’t see you.

Well, the same thing holds for in-person elevator pitching. Your super niche is THE backbone of your differentiation strategy. Because 70% of humans buy based on if they’re feeling pain around that topic. When networking prospects ask “what do you do?” make your introduction about their  most expensive problem that you can solve.

Skipping In-Person Events Is Actual Marketing Suicide

Last cringe-worthy networking mistake: skipping events because everything’s now online, and run by AI. 95% of executives according to Harvard Business Review still say face-to-face is essential for long-term relationship building.  Especially in a rocky economy, to cut back on your marketing by not showing up to in person events is marketing suicide. Remember that there’s huge cliff between conversion rate in-person versus digital. Don’t fall into that trap. Not networking because you’re cutting back marketing or switching to cheaper channels using digital or AI is truly cringe-worthy.

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