7 Reasons To Seriously Consider Online Networking for Your Trade & Construction Business.

‘I hate Zoom. I’m only interested in face-to-face networking.’ ⛔️

So this one pops up a lot.

Especially during a pandemic where we were forced to HAVE to network online as in-person became against the law for a while.

Sitting down at a screen for hours and hours was really tough for many Trades.

Their worst nightmare in fact.

99% of the companies I knew were chomping at the bit to get back to in-person meets.

And now that we are, there is definitely a mixed bag about which camp is the better option.

For the Trades who ‘work it right’ there are some SERIOUS benefits to Networking online though.

Whether you’re a Networking Newbie or a Seasoned Pro.

I’m going to share with you the 9 reasons (I believe) you should seriously consider online Networking as part of your strategy to grow your Trades and Construction business.

So let’s get to it.

1. Online Networking will save your Trade and Construction business hours of time.

Early starts are no problem for the average Trade or Construction worker.

Those early face-to-face Networking meetings may have resulted in some falling asleep in the corner of the room (I knew a Travel Agent who regularly did this – with his sunglasses on would you believe?) but never a Trade or Construction Pro.

Though what Trades did find troublesome was AFTER the meeting.

Getting on the road at gone 9am, catching the tail end of rush hour trying to get to site on time.

A total nightmare if you had to get across the city or travel miles away.

I’d constantly be hearing how stressed the Trades were that they were arriving on site having missed near enough the whole morning and falling behind from the off.

What it also meant at the in-person meeting was that when the Trade knew they had to travel far to get to site, they would leave the meeting early or as soon as it finished.

Meaning no mingling with members and visitors afterwards – which is where a lot of the business actually happens.

What you may (or may not) know is that Networking Meetings provide 2 functions.

1️⃣ To act as accountability for members each week.
2️⃣ To provide a vehicle for you to meet new people.

💰 The actual money-making side of Networking happens AFTER a meeting.

Following up, arranging 121s with people you think you could or would like to work with, then getting to know them better and find a way of referring each other.

But having time to START building relationships at these meetings so that you can take them into fruitful directions does mean you need to be present.

And not just run away straight after.

I knew a carpenter who did that.

He'd always be the first to leave the second the meeting finished as he was always rushing to get to site.

He ended up leaving the group as he ‘didn’t get much work from it’.

But if all we ever saw of him was him bolting out the door, why would we?

It appeared he didn’t have time for us.

He wasn’t invested in ‘chipping in’ (pun fully intended) like we were.

So didn’t give us confidence to refer him.

Online Networking is a COMPLETE time saver.

Often, I see Trades on screen in their van.

❌ NOT DRIVING. But the passenger.

Which means we have their full attention (and no road accidents) throughout the meeting AND they were on the road to site whilst they networked.

They’d get to site on time. Meaning less stress.

The fact they might even arrive early meant they could stay on the online call longer and speak to more people. Building up more, high quality relationships.

Their day started off better because they weren’t running from a face-to-face meeting and getting caught in 2 hours of traffic thereafter.

Pretty smart if you ask me.

2. You can scale your Trades and Construction Business nationally and internationally, faster.

With Online Networking Meetings you can be talking to potential clients, suppliers and collaborators MUCH further afield.

Why does this interest me, I hear you say?

Local is fantastic.

And for sure, that’s where Face-to-face is so powerful.

It literally brings local communities together and lots of work and opportunities come out of this.

But what if you’re looking to scale your Trades and Construction business?

What if you’re looking to start moving into the next county?

What if you want to become Nationwide?

What if you already are?

Online Meetings cover a lot more ground.

Meaning that IF your long term goal is to stretch further afield than where you are already covering, online meetings can help you do this much more easily and quickly.

Meetings online with potential clients in areas you want to break into.

You may well meet suppliers miles away that can assist you with specific projects you have in the pipeline.

You might meet Trade and construction specific marketing companies like us (total shameless plug) who work with Trades around the world, that you feel can help take you to the next level, that you’d never have known existed if you just focused local.

As with all networking, it’s about who you meet and how you choose to take things forward.

But online can definitely cover more ground, fast.

3. Show us behind the scenes of your Trade and Construction Business, real-time.

Here’s one HUGE benefit that face-to-face Networking can’t touch.

You can show us your sites. In real-time.

So, you’re at an Online Networking event and you’re next up to deliver your 1-minute pitch.

Or maybe you’re even the featured presenter that day. And get 10 or more minutes to present your business.

Imagine you do this on-site.

You walk around, showing us behind the scenes.

We get to see or even meet your team at work.

You tell us what you’re working on right now and how it will be transforming over the next few hours, days or weeks.

Perhaps you go live from this same site at a future meeting.

So we get to see how the project has developed.

📺 Like your own private Networking TV channel, with engagement exclusive to us.

Now there are caveats to this, of course.

I wouldn’t be presenting my 10 minute pitch on a site that has non-stop banging and drilling the entire time.

👂🏽 Nobody wants that in their ear drums.

Move around.

There is nothing stopping you starting your pitch elsewhere, someone quiet, another room or outside then walking (safely!) through site explaining to us what is going on.

The ‘safety’ element is a big one.

We’re not just looking at the job at hand.

We’re gaining an insight into the kind of business you are.

Are you safe, are you clean and tidy, are your team members courteous, is everyone in uniform?

To really nail it, plan and prepare.

Things like…

✅  Warn the team you will be walking around on a Zoom Meeting.
✅ Be sure the site is as clear, clean and safe as required.
✅ Make sure where you’re going is safe.
✅ That you have permission to film.
✅ You’re not encroaching on any client privacy.

The power of being real-time with you on your job is second to none.

Work this to your Online Networking advantage.

4. Create Brand Awareness for your Trade and Construction business.

At face-to-face Networking meetings, there are ways you can get your Trades brand under the noses of the folk present.

They are usually limited to the branded workwear you wear on your back and the business cards you hand out.

🚚 If you’re lucky, a prominent spot in the car park where you can leave your well designed branded vehicle can make a great impression too.

But these come with a few snags.

The business cards are great – for those who actually receive them. You don’t always manage to get them round to everyone.

Plus, if you’ve not been given the heads up how many people will be turning up that day you may not arrive with enough for everyone anyway.

And branded workwear is a must for every Trade and Construction business… unless you are ‘Off The Tools’ and have decided that you don smart attire only that isn’t branded.

Or you don’t believe the uniform you have right now is not smart enough for a Networking meeting so decide to wear something else entirely.

🤵🏾‍♂️ Or the venue has a really smart dress code and none of your uniform fits the bill.

Oh. And you’ve been told you must park your van at the very back of the car park as the Golf Club you are visiting have some form of vendetta with Trade vehicles being parked near their entrance.

I kid you not. I’ve known plenty of venues with these rules.

So you see. The ‘opportunities’ for your branding to become visible at this in-person event suddenly start to become few and far between.

Meaning many of the folk there will leave never knowing what your business actually ‘looks like’.

So, when they next see your van on the road or a post on social media, though they heard you speak and maybe even liked what you were saying at the meeting, they don’t ever end up putting two and two together and you never cross paths or end up working together in the future.

Missed. Opportunity.

Now.

How Online Networking gets round that is by allowing you to use Online Backgrounds.

For those not in the know, it basically means you can use an image on screen that cuts out all your background – in case the office is untidy or you’re working from home that day and the kids are running around dressed as Pirates.

The online background leaves only you in shot.

And replaces whatever is behind you with the image you choose.

The image can be anything you like.

Which can and MUST – of course – include your company logo at a meeting like this.

This remains on screen the entire time you are on the call.

And depending on how others have their Zoom set up, if they have it set to GALLERY VIEW where they can see 25 people on screen at any one time, then that means your brand is on screen for them the entire meeting.

👊🏽 That’s some serious brand awareness right there.

It's a great way for people to be introduced to your business identity meaning the next time they see it on your van or a social media post they quickly put two and two together.

Which means increased chances of them contacting you, engaging and enquiring.

5. Showcase your Trade and Construction work in the Online Networking Meeting.

Following on from the Zoom Background helping delegates familiarise themselves with your branding, this super-duper tool goes one further to help you nail Online Networking.

Use it to show delegates your ACTUAL work.

This can be a photo or a video.

Yes. You can upload a photo or video (if your device is compatible) to your background.

You can show finished work.

Transformational before and afters.

A time lapse from site.

(A construction client of ours had drone footage of a huge loft he had just installed the timbers for.

When he showed this at a meeting, EVERYONE was stunned and had no idea he could take on such huge projects.

His referral types changed immediately.)

The possibilities are endless!

Letting us see the kind of jobs you offer, standard you complete your work to or types of clients you cater for VISUALLY during a meeting can spark interest in you and your business like you wouldn’t believe.

Plus. An awful lot of folk are visual learners.

At in-person, you will stand up and get 30 seconds or 1 minute to speak, but often there’s no visual element to your short pitch.

Only the most organised face-to-face groups I’ve even been to (and I’ve been a LOT of meetings in my time) ever offer their members the opportunities to show visuals.

And they are rare.

If you’re visiting a meeting as a one off, then oftentimes they won’t have a structure in place to allow for visuals for non-members anyway.

Which means more missed opportunities.

But online, when it comes to your Online Background, YOU are the one in total control.

You could even have your branded image up behind you throughout the meeting, and if you’re speedy with your mouse, change your background to a relevant photo or video when it’s your time to present.

How much more memorable have you suddenly become?

How much easier has it become for us to understand what you were explaining?

The Power of the Zoom background is part of what makes us love Online Networking for Trades so much.

And we think you should start loving it too.

6. Get Meeting Admin done and Connections made in the actual meeting itself.

In-person Networking meetings, highly frown upon and deem it disrespectful to be on your phone at any point during the meeting.

But sometimes, someone asks for a specific referral introduction and you want to send that quick text as it’s someone you know.

Or someone mentioned their LinkedIn profile or a website and you quickly want to connect there so you don’t forget later.

Well, in an Online Meeting, we’re all on devices anyway.

And provided we stay focused (and respectful) to the people speaking in the meeting, if someone has just mentioned a social post or website, it’s super easy and quick to check it out then and there.

Often, people will put their Social Media links in the Zoom Chat.

📲 So, it makes sense to click on them then and there to connect.

In all of 2 seconds. Literally.

You walk away from a meeting having digitally connected with a whole heap more people than you did at a face-to-face meet.

They’re now in your circle. Online at least.

Ready for you to connect with, with way less awkwardness.

Speaking of the Zoom Chat, it’s extra awesome for nailing other things too.

Lots of face-to-face meetings have delegate lists with limited contact details.

It might just have the person’s name and email.

Or only Facebook handles, when that person is more active on LinkedIn.

But at Online Events, often attendees are encouraged to put their social media details or important website links in the chat.

They are in total control of where to best to find them.

Before you leave the meeting, you can click the 3 dots just above where you would leave a message in the chat and SAVE CHAT.

This means you get to save all the messages that were left throughout, which includes everyone’s contact details.

Ready to connect with everyone at your leisure.

The final plus of the Zoom Chat.

The Private Message function.

Provided the Zoom Host has this on.

This is where you can privately message a specific attended in the chat without everyone else seeing.

This is great if someone says something that you know you can help them with or that you would like to know more.

A recent Online Meeting I was on, someone asked for Trades in a specific town that I happened to live in.

I privately messaged them on the chat, as I didn’t know them personally yet, and have now connected them with a whole bunch of companies that they can use for a big project they have in the area.

Talking during presentations at a face-to-face is not acceptable – even if it is to say to ‘I can help with that, chat with me after.’

But sometimes you just need to quickly reach out to someone, respectfully, before life gets in the way.

The beauty of Online lets you do all those things.

Admin and connection? Nailed. ⚒️

7. Online Meetings are more focused for your Trade and Construction Business.

Yes, the camaraderie during face-to-face is fun.

And small talk around the tea and coffee table can help build those all-important relationships.

But how often have you ended up getting really side tracked?

Stuck in other people’s conversations you didn’t really want to be in?

Cornered by the group chatter-box/time-waster that you try really hard to avoid?

One time too many, I’m guessing.

Lucky for you, Online Networking cuts a lot of that down.

There can and is LOTS of camaraderie on the right Online Meetings.

And these can be just as engaging and fun as in-person with the right leadership team.

But is Online does cut out a lot of the crap that wastes a lot of time and energy and gets you to site late or drained.

The Online Meetings often offer timed break out rooms (that’s where they put a couple of people into a private online room so you can get to know each other better).

⏱ These are great. Because they’re timed.

And helps cut out awkwardness as they’re short and sweet.

Nice.

So all in all. There are some SERIOUS positives to going online for your Trade and Construction Networking strategy.

Don’t write it off.

7 REASONS TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER ONLINE NETWORKING FOR TOUR TRADES & CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS RUNDOWN:

1.         Online Networking will save you hours of time.
2.         Scale your business nationally and internationally, faster.
3.         Show us behind the scenes in real-time.
4.         Create brand awareness.
5.         Showcase the quality of your work in the meeting.
6.         Get admin done and connections made then and there.
7. Get more focused.

Need a little more help nailing your Trades Brand?

Course you do.

First. Let’s work out where you are with your Trades brand.
Got 3 minutes?

Take our Trades Quiz to discover how you score with all things ‘Off The Tools’.

We have heaps of tips, tricks and hacks for your Trades business in our cheat sheets, videos and ideas waiting for you on the other side… i.e., your results page.

So you can improve your score. And NAIL your Trades business.