Best Practices for Building New Professional Relationships

As our industry continues to rebound and event professionals change roles, relationship management has become a little difficult. Below are some great tips for professionals who are looking to build new relationships with potential clients.

Let’s be honest, getting up the nerve to talk to a total stranger at a networking or business event is not always easy. If you’re a supplier and you’re meeting a new, potential client for the first time, don’t go in with a sales pitch right off the bat. When meeting someone new for the first time, I never talk business right away. I’m more interested in getting to know the person. To establish any kind of relationship, you have to find a way to connect, either personally or professionally. Establishing a connection builds rapport, rapport builds trust, and people like to do business with people they trust.

PRO TIP: Do some research about the people you’ll be meeting prior to attending an event.

- Ashley L. Ridolfi, Director of Sales & Marketing
at the DoubleTree Philadelphia West

Let’s be honest, a meeting planner reading a sales email meant for them, but with another person’s name on it, or receiving an elevator sales pitch from a stranger, can be off-putting to say the least. With the effects of the pandemic still impacting in-person meetings, there has been an influx of emails, and cold-calling that planners are encountering to make up for the loss of continuing contact our suppliers have had.

So, how do we get back to the feeling of connection and partnership with eager suppliers and overwhelmed planners?

As Ashley mentioned, people do business with people they trust. Trust is built on foundation of commonality, mutual understanding, and the feeling that we have each other’s best interests in mind.

So, let’s get to know each other! Know someone who is already connected with me? Ask for an introduction to me! Chances are, I already trust that person, and you could very well benefit from that trust. At the next networking event, I might be found sipping a glass of wine by myself. Come over and ask me how my day was and let’s commiserate or celebrate. There are both suppliers and planners in my network that you can very well obtain an introduction from me, by just extending the olive branch of human kindness.

PRO TIP: Be human first, and a salesperson second. Let’s be friends!

- Allery Elder, CMP, HMCC, R&D Business Support & Meetings Specialist
at Jazz Pharmaceuticals