Nottingham Professional Services recently hosted an event at Potter Clarkson in Nottingham to give advice to professionals on hold an effective business conversation. Paul Richmond, from theGrogroup, led a high energy and very interactive session.

The session kicked off by looking at the modern way we connect with people, with some tips on making your LinkedIn profile work for you  – having an appropriate profile picture, a profile rich in keywords you want to be known for, posting updates and commenting in relevant groups.

The session covered 12 tips on building relationships, some highlights include:

• Think personal impact

“…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”                                                            Maya Angelou

• Think personal pitch – more than just name rank and serial number!

We all introduced ourselves; we met: “the friendly tax advisor”, “the man who will get you in the papers” and “the dragon!”

• Think 3:15

There are 5 working days a week, 6 if you are very keen! You are going to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. So spend 3 meals in company…

The session then moved on to the ABCs of connected people – and we focused on what it was to be “curious”. We were introduced to Martin, a potential new client and the floor was opened up to what we wanted to ask him, we had some great questions including:

• What issues keep you awake at night?
• What are your key business KPIs and what do they tell you?
• How do you drive new business?
• Tell me about your family
• Where do you want to be in 5 years time, at home? at work?
• What is your exit plan?
• Could you drive performance any higher with the current staff?

All attendees went away with a toolkit of wider business questions to ask, follow this link for a copy

Following the workshop people commented that “this session was extremely useful, especially the top tips on questioning styles and starting up conversations at networking events. I will definitely be attending future events”

Bradley Legrand of Carter Legrand Wealth Strategies said “there was fantastic turnout from the Nottingham Professional Services community for this professionally presented event and there were lots of ideas to take away”.

It would be great to hear from others who didn’t attend this event, we’d love to hear your elevator pitch …