Making Waves: Smart Networking on the Open Sea
Making Waves: Smart Networking on the Open Sea
If you’ve ever packed for a conference, summit, or business cruise and suddenly realized you’re almost out of business cards, don’t panic.
Your business cards are not what will make or break your networking.
Your strategy will.
I recently got a question from someone getting ready to head out on a cruise with Dave Ramsey, the EntreLeadership team, and a whole ship full of business owners and leaders.
They had only two business cards left.
Their solution? Update their iPhone contacts and use their phone to share information instead.
I love that idea.
Digital contact sharing is easy, paperless, and much harder to lose than a business card that gets stuffed into the bottom of a tote bag.
But when it comes to smart networking, exchanging contact information is the easy part.
The bigger question is: Who do you actually want to meet, and what are you going to do when you meet them?
That’s where intentional networking changes everything.
Smart Networking Starts Before You Walk Into the Room
If you have spent good money to attend a conference, summit, retreat, or cruise, I don’t want you to wing it.
You can absolutely show up, grab a drink, mingle, and see what happens.
But you can also spend about 10 minutes before the event creating a simple plan that could make a huge difference in your business.
Here’s what I want you to do.
Grab one piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.
On one side, write:
Potential Clients
On the other side, write:
Potential Referral Partners
That one piece of paper becomes your networking roadmap.
Identify 5–10 Potential Clients
Start with the people you think you may genuinely be able to serve.
Who is attending the event who seems like a good fit for what you do?
Write down five to 10 names.
These do not have to be people you have never met.
In fact, some of your best opportunities may be what I call the low-hanging fruit.
Maybe you have already talked with someone.
Maybe you had a sales conversation six months ago.
Maybe there was interest, but the timing wasn’t right.
Maybe things simply never moved forward.
Add those people to your list.
Your goal is not to corner them beside the buffet and say, “Remember that proposal I sent you?”
Your goal is to reconnect, learn what is happening in their business, and see where the conversation naturally goes.
That is smart networking.
Identify 5–10 Potential Referral Partners
Now move to the other side of your page.
Who would you simply love to know?
These may be people doing exciting things in their business. They may serve the same audience you do without competing directly with you. They may know people you could help.
Or they may just seem like really good human beings.
That counts too.
A referral partner does not need to immediately hand you three qualified leads.
You are building relationships.
You are getting curious.
You are creating the kind of professional network where people understand who you help, what you do, and when they should think of you.
Some of those relationships may turn into referrals.
Some may become collaborations.
Some may simply become friendships.
All three are valuable.
Do Your Homework Before You Say Hello
Once you have your list, spend a little time learning about the people on it.
Look at LinkedIn.
Look at their social media.
Look at their website or business.
But here is the important part:
Do not research them so you can diagnose everything they are doing wrong.
You are not trying to walk up and say, “I noticed six problems with your sales funnel. Want to hire me?”
Please don't do that.
Instead, research them through the lens of curiosity.
Ask yourself:
- What seems important to this person?
- What are they excited about?
- What is happening inside their business?
- What motivates them?
- What could I genuinely ask them about?
Maybe you discover that someone recently took their entire company on a retreat in Colorado.
Now you have an easy conversation starter:
"I saw you took your team to Colorado for a retreat. What was one of the most impactful things that came out of it?"
That is a much better opening than standing there thinking, Well...what do you do?
A little preparation helps you move past awkward small talk and into conversations that actually matter.
Smart Networking Is About Serving, Not Selling
Here is where this strategy becomes especially powerful.
When you go into an event asking, “How can I serve these people?” instead of “What can I get from these people?”, your conversations change.
You listen differently.
You ask better questions.
And people can feel that.
They start opening up about their businesses.
They talk about what is working.
They share what is frustrating them.
And sometimes, through that conversation, you discover that you really can help.
You did not have to force a pitch.
The opportunity came out of the relationship.
Your Best Connection May Not Be on Your List
There is another benefit to preparing ahead of time.
Once you get yourself into this curious, intentional mindset, it affects every conversation you have.
Maybe you meet someone standing in the dessert line.
Maybe you sit next to somebody at dinner.
Maybe you end up in a conversation with someone you had never heard of before the event.
Great.
The list is not there to prevent spontaneous conversations.
It is there to prepare you to have better conversations.
You already know the mindset you want to bring into the room.
Be curious.
Ask questions.
Listen.
Look for ways to serve.
That works whether someone is on your list or not.
I Use This Smart Networking Strategy Myself
I don't want to tell my clients to do something I'm not willing to do myself.
Before attending a StoryBrand Summit, I used this exact strategy.
I had been a certified StoryBrand Guide for several years and already knew quite a few people in the community.
It would have been very easy to show up and think, I'll just see who I run into.
Instead, on the flight there, I made my list.
Potential referral partners on one side.
Potential clients on the other.
Then I asked myself:
Who do I want to meet?
Who can I be intentional with?
Who can I learn about?
Who might I be able to serve?
At the event, I found some of those people and had great conversations.
But I also met people who were not on my list.
Because I was focused on them instead of myself, some of those people opened up about frustrations they were having in their businesses.
One of those conversations led to another conversation.
And eventually, that person became a client.
Not because I walked into the event determined to make a sale.
Because I walked in prepared to build a relationship.
Your 10-Minute Smart Networking Plan
Before your next conference, cruise, mastermind, summit, or networking event, do this:
- Create your potential client list. Choose five to 10 people you may be able to serve.
- Create your referral partner list. Choose five to 10 people you genuinely want to know.
- Add previous opportunities. Include people you have spoken with before when the timing was not right.
- Do your research. Learn what matters to each person.
- Prepare a few thoughtful questions. Lead with curiosity instead of a pitch.
- Focus on serving. Go into every conversation looking for connection, not extraction.
- Stay open to surprises. Some of your best conversations will happen with people who were never on the list.
You can absolutely go to an event and relax.
But if you combine that relaxed energy with a little intentional preparation, you give yourself a much better chance of building relationships that can change your business.
And that is what smart networking is really about.
Are Your Sales Conversations Turning Connections Into Clients?
Networking can open the door.
But what happens when someone actually wants to talk about working with you?
If you are getting conversations but struggling to turn the right opportunities into clients, your networking may not be the problem.
Your sales conversation might be.
I've created a Sales Conversation Assessment to help you take a closer look at what is happening in your sales process and identify where you may be losing momentum.
Take my Sales Conversation Assessment here:
https://buildingmomentum.info/assessment
You do not need more awkward pitches.
You need better conversations.
And whether you are on a cruise ship, at a conference, or sitting across from a potential client on Zoom, that is where real momentum begins.
Making Waves: Smart Networking on the Open Sea | Show Notes
Episode Summary:
Stuck with only two business cards and heading onto a cruise with some of the biggest names in business? Don’t panic—plan. In this episode, Brooke Greening breaks down a practical strategy for intentional networking, even in the middle of the ocean. Learn how to map your outreach, prep for meaningful conversations, and stay focused on service over self. Whether you’re cruising with EntreLeadership or just trying to get more out of your next conference, this episode’s for you.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why the “two lists” strategy is a game-changer for networking events
- How to prep for intentional, non-salesy conversations
- Smart ways to use your phone (not paper) for business card sharing
- Brooke’s real-life example of how this method led to a new client
- The mindset shift that makes networking feel natural, not icky
Mentioned in This Episode:
- EntreLeadership Cruise
- StoryBrand Summit
- Brooke’s SERVICE Sales Framework for authentic relationship-building
Connect with Us:
Got a networking or sales question?
Submit it anonymously and Brooke might answer it in a future episode. https://buildingmomentum.info/anonymous-sales-questions/
Connect with Brooke on LinkedIn for more real-world sales advice that feels as good as it works.
Brooke Greening: All right. Here is our next question. It is about networking. I have just two more business cards left. Dun dun dun. We get picked up for a cruise with Dave Ramsey and their whole crew plus EntreLeadership at 11:30 AM I updated our phone contact records. I'd figured we'd just tap our iPhone to share with people that asked for business cards instead of telling them we forgot them at home.
My question is, what would you change about our cruise network strategy? All right, that is a great question, and the agony of wanting to know how to be able to network on a cruise ship. I'm a little bit jealous because right now it's about 40 degrees and raining, but I've got my matcha, so let's go. Here it is.
I absolutely, you can change in regards to your iPhone contacts. I think that's a great idea. It's gonna be easier for you. You're not gonna lose their contact information. They won't lose it. You can probably implement it into your CRM a lot easier, have it be paperless. That's fantastic. They also have other apps to be able to do that, so you are on the right track with that.
But if I can encourage you and encourage all those who are listening when we're talking about doing networking, especially at conferences, cruise ships, summits, whatever the case is, when we have spent a good amount of money to be able to show up and be in those rooms, we don't want to wing it. We want to be able to be intentional.
So that's what I'm gonna tell you. In regards to changing your network strategy. This is what I want you to do. You're going to make, we are gonna have one piece of paper. It's gonna take about 10 minutes and you're gonna divide it down the middle in half. On one side, you are going to write, you're gonna have the title be Potential clients on the other side.
You are going to write it and it's going to say. Potential referrals. Those are what that's, that's how you're gonna first start. This is how you're gonna be able to be intentional as you're walking around on this cruise ship. What you're going to do is you're going to ask yourself. Because usually you're gonna get a list.
A lot of times when we go conferences, we get a list of attendees, different things like that. Or maybe you've also talked to these people before. Maybe you're in another online community with them, so you have an idea of who's coming. So that's what you wanna be able to do. You're gonna say, who are five to 10 people that I wanna connect with in regards to potential clients?
I feel like it would be a good fit. I think I could be able to serve them, and it could be a good relationship. Then on the other side, who are five to 10 people that you would like as potential referrals? This is, these are the people that you want in their, your corner. You're looking at them that maybe they're doing really exciting new things with their business and you just wanna learn more about it.
You wanna be able to talk to them. They might be able to connect you to those potential clients. They might not, but they're just people you want to get to know 'cause you feel like they're good human beings and. You just wanna continue to build those friendships. That's what I want you to do First, you're going to write those lists down and then you're actually, I'm gonna give you another little tip.
The super low hanging fruit on those potential clients, those would be the ones that you've maybe had a conversation with, but things haven't moved forward that much, so you wanna add them to that list as well. Then you're gonna do just a little bit of homework, because what you don't want is to walk into the room, you see them, and then you just kind of freeze and you're not entirely sure what to say.
I. That's not fun. That's not an enjoyable time for anyone. But you also don't wanna be like, Hey, salesy. And you get a card, and you get a card. Like that's not you either. So you just wanna be intentional and you want to talk about them. Everybody really enjoys being able to talk about themselves and their business, so by you doing a little bit of research, you can be able to have good.
Questions to talk to them about. So what am I talking about in regards to research? You're gonna look at their social media, LinkedIn, whatever it is, wherever they are at, you're gonna look at it not in regards to diagnosing the problems that they have so that you can fix them and they can hire you, but you're going to look at that from an eyesight of curiosity.
What is important to them? What is important in their business? What drives them, what motivates them? Those are the things that you're looking for so that when you talk to them, you have something intelligent to say in regards to like, Hey, I saw that you were just, you just took your company on a work retreat over in Colorado.
What were some of the most impactful things that you found there? Something just as simple as that can help to open that door of conversation and to continue to talk to each other and see if it would be a good relationship. So that's what I want you to do. I want you to take about 10 minutes, write down the people you're looking for, and then do your homework so that you can be intentional.
And the beautiful thing is when this is happening and you're coming into that networking with a mindset of serving them instead of being served. Then even when other people come up that you had no idea who they were, or it just happened to, maybe you were in the dessert line or whatever the case is, and you started having a conversation by you being able to be intentional, it helps those conversations as well.
So I'm gonna share a quick story in regards to how I did this, because it's really important to me that if I tell people to do this and I'm telling my clients to do this, that I am doing it as well. So, just as an example, I was headed over to the StoryBrand Summit. I've been a certified guide for going on five years, and so I had been to that summit a good bit. It was like my third one. I knew a lot of people because we had, we have an online community, so we had that going for us, but I did the same thing on my flight there. I had my list, I split it down the middle and I wrote referral partners and potential clients, and I just thought to myself, who do I want to meet?
Who can I be intentional with? Who can I. Serve and learn about their business and see if it can be something that I might be able to help them with. And then when I was there, I was able to find those people, have those great conversations, and then other people I met I was able to have conversations with, and because I was focused on them and not myself, they were able to open up and share about some of the frustrations they were having with their business.
After that, we decided, Hey, it's probably good for us to be able to have another conversation. So we talked again and then they became one of my clients. So you can really choose to be intentional, choose, choose how you wanna do it. You wanna go into networking and just kind of relax and chill. You can do that, but I promise you, if you are intentional, it will make a big difference and it could be life changing for your business for this year.
All right. Enjoy the cruise and let me know what other questions you have.
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