Marketing Aquaculture Products — 1

and the benefi ts of the product to the students.
A fi eld trip to your facility would indelibly etch
into the minds of every graduate placed in a
local or regional business where they had a personal
contact that they could go to for quality
product.
To eff ectively network at an event, do not yield
to the temptation to hang out with friends and
familiar faces, this is fi ne, but you are there to
build your business contacts and enhance the
reputation of your business. Be sure to set a
goal for each meeting of meeting some number
of new faces. Th is plan can be quite straight
forward. For example, a given number of new
contacts, learning three key points from the
speaker’s topic that really can impact your operation
or how you communicate, or identifying
key industry trends. If you spend a lot of time
in the home offi ce or working at diff erent tasks
dictated by the daily needs of your aquaculture
operation, your main purpose may be to get out
and talk with people and fi nd out what is happening.
Again, focus on your goal or goals before
attending the meeting and how you intend
to handle your personal presentation.
Don’t make a beeline for your seat; once the
meeting begins, you will not be able to network,
consider strategic places to mingle near coff ee
and snack areas, hallways and of course, in the
evening at the bar. You don’t have to be a barfl
y, it is better if you refrain from imbibing (or
overly doing so) and use the social gathering to
meet people, discuss issues important to your
business goals then and collect their business
cards.
When conversing, don’t spend too much time
with any one person or you defeat the purpose
of attending the event. Get their contact information
and shoot them a follow-up E-mail aft er
the event and continue the conversation at that
point. Be sure to have plenty of business cards
and your product or business literature close at
hand so that they can reach you or learn more
about your operation if you become engaged
in another conversation. Be sure to give others
the chance to talk to you. Be attentive, receptive
and helpful, but beware of getting bogged
down in a long meaningless conversation. As a
business person, you are part of diverse community
that needs to collectively work together
to help one another.
Networking is a two-way street. Be friendly
and approachable and remember the old adage,
“What goes around comes around.” Concentrate
on your expertise and use it to creatively
help solve other people’s problems, this goes a
lot farther than repeatedly regurgitating facts
and fi gures about your business. Remember
your manners and avoid being negative or
complaining about competitors, the government
or suppliers. Everyone has contacts and
affi liations and you never know who is going to
be in the room.
Sharing information and insights that help others
will eventually lead to referrals and leads.
Be sure to follow up each meeting with an
E-mail note to your best contacts; if you were
discussing a topic and you have extra information,
be sure to pass it on. If you make the
eff ort to reach out and help others, you’ll soon
fi nd people are reaching out to help you.
What constitutes a sale? So you had a good
meeting and walked out with some kind of
commitment from the buyer. How solid is that
commitment? Here are a few things to consider.
Some of the commitments you receive in
a meeting are more along the lines of tentative
supply queries than solid sales. Some of these
should be avoided by anyone in the perishableproduct
aquaculture business.
Marketing Aquaculture Products — 25