Networking is not just meeting new people, simply attending an event, promoting your company or collecting business cards. The networking events questions you ask and the conversations that may arise from these questions are the keys to the success of your networking.
With this in mind, we have several examples of questions that will improve your networking event. By asking these questions, you will be able to get specific and useful information and build a list of contacts that will help you take your business to another level.
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers
Only by asking the right questions, we can get good answers and that’s why preparation before the networking event is so important.
What should you keep in mind when asking networking events questions?
Remember to ask open-ended questions to get more information. Asking questions that can be answered Yes or No can lead to the end of the conversation or disrupt the free flow of information. What questions you ask will depend solely on your own assessment of the situation.
Asking questions is a learnable skill, so at your next networking meeting, try to use a minimum of 5 questions from the list below (or create your own!). Practice makes perfect!
We have divided examples of questions for you into questions about a networking event, questions about a job, about business, about a career, about a person, and about whether you will keep in touch.
Questions about the networking event
These are questions that will help you to quickly find out something about a person’s workplace, their job position, interests, business and goals. They can lead the conversation to other questions about their company or work.
After introducing yourself, you can start with these:
- How did you find out about this event?
- Why did you decide to come to this event?
- Who have you met at this meeting?
- What interesting have you learnt at this meeting?
- What other events do you like to attend?
These questions will lead you into a conversation without starting other difficult topics related to business or work.
Questions about the work
It is true that you can find out a lot about the workplace and even the position of the person only by looking at their ID or the list of attendees, which is usually available to the guests, but the following questions will allow you to learn even more. In addition, you may learn how they can help you and your business or how you can help them.
- I see you work for XYZ. What do you do for them?
- What do you do in your job?
- What are your responsibilities?
- How long have you been working there?
- What do you like about your job?
The above will also help you find out if the person is, for example, a business owner or manager. And these will lead you to the follow-up.
- What does your company do?
- When did you start your business?
- Why did you decide to open your business?
- What do you want to achieve?
- What is your goal?
- What were your main challenges when starting your business?
And these are the questions if someone is employed by a company:
- What do you like most about your job?
- How big is the company you work for?
- How was the company created?
Questions about career
These are questions that will tell you about their previous work and what other experience, skills and interests they have. You can also find out about other companies that this person is in contact with and possibly can connect you with them.
- Where else did you work?
- What other sectors did you work in?
- Where did you start your career?
- What made you go in this direction?
Personal questions
Thanks to these questions, the person will have the opportunity to open up more. It may turn out that you have common interests and this will lead to a deeper conversation and building a stronger relationship.
- Where are you from?
- Do you live here long?
- What do you do outside of work?
Questions about the follow-up meeting
These are questions that will allow you to get acquainted with the person during a meeting later. Depending on how the conversation goes, it will be good to ask these questions at the end of the conversation.
- Your work sounds interesting. Can I have your business card so that we can set up a meeting later?
- Your work sounds intriguing. Would you like to meet over coffee to continue our talk?
- Would you be interested in a meeting next week? I’d love to hear more about what you do.
- Your work is really fascinating. Is there anything that I or my company could do for you?
Why is it worth asking questions?
As Dale Carnegie wrote in his book How to win friends and influence people, through your interest in another person, you make them feel like they are the most important person in the whole meeting because people love to talk about themselves, their achievements and opinions, especially if someone’s really listening. You can then be sure that they will remember you, and there will be a higher chance, you will arrange a meeting and build a lasting relationship.
Asking the right questions will lead you to the answers you are looking for, and help the person to open up. The more good questions we ask, the better the answers will be. Ask to understand and remember to be positive and avoid negative statements as they might make them feel uncomfortable.
Networking events questions asked but what next?
First of all – Listen! Often, after asking our question, we do not listen or wait for the answer, but start looking around the room for the next person to talk to. Doing so will not help us get more friends because people will subconsciously feel that you want to move away from them and end the conversation as soon as possible.
Put down your smartphone, stop looking around or looking for someone else. Just actively listen to what they have to say and try to be interested in that person. You will gain respect and establish a stronger relationship.
How to learn to ask good open-ended questions?
Start from the basics: learn how to ask general open-ended questions such as: How did you get here today? General and safe questions will allow you and the other person to relax and build trust between you. From safe and easy questions about the weather or the reason for coming to the networking event, go to questions about their career and business sector. After a stronger connection between you is built, you’ll be able to ask more personal or business questions.
Practice and perseverance will help you to learn a new skill, so at the earliest opportunity, ask questions and actively listen to the answers. Then ask yourself what else can I learn from this person?
