So how eactly do I network at the real estate investment club?

You have found a realestate investment association to attend. You have your business cards and flyers all lined up. You have been to a few meetings and know the vendors and what it is that they do. You have also have meet the movers and shakers at the meeting, now what?




Now it’s time to get into the true networking and using the vendors to your advantage. Now’s the time to start approaching everyone else in the room. Look for the new people that look at little lost or that you have never met at the meetings before. Approach them with a sort of a meeting ambassador approach.



You might say “Hi, I’m Bob, is this your first time to a meeting?” . . . . “So are you new to real estate investing?” . . . or “What do you hope to accomplish by attending these meetings?” You are trying to find a little bit about them, find out what they do, and get their business card for follow up. We will talk about follow up in a future article.



Now you have a new friend, you have to find a way to brush them off kindly and go on to the next person. You are networking and want to meet a lot of people and find out a bit about them, so you need to pass your new friend on to someone else. It’s time introduce them to one or two of the Vendors or one of the movers and shakers.



So why do all of this, what is the objective.



First and foremost, you want everyone you meet to remember you. As you approached them, you asked them questions so they talked about themselves. People like it when they get to talk about themselves. Then you introduced them to new people at the meeting. This accomplishes your second objective of letting them know you are in the know. That you just might be a go to person when they need help. But they don’t know what it is that you do, so they will start asking about you to the other people at the meeting. With these two things, everyone you meet witll have a much better chance of remembering you rather than the other guy who just said “Hi, my name is Bob and I am a real estate investor.” . . . then digressed to talk about the weather and the price of tea in China.



I saw this over and over again a few years ago with one of our vendors. He always reserved a vendor table and put his flyers on it. But was he ever at his table? No, he would look for the person standing in the corner all by themselves and go up and start asking them questions. Once he had a little bit of info as to what the person did, and what they were trying to accomplish at the meeting, he would ask them for a card and introduce them to someone else at the meeting. He never said who he was or what he did. Then when the person was handed off via introduction to someone else, they would ask the someone else “Who was that? What does he do?” The response was always, “that’s the guy you need to talk to if you need a loan to buy a house, you need to get his card.” Needless to say he made a 3 or 4 loans immediately after his first meeting and was the most called upon guy in the group for loans.



So remember



1. Find the people you don’t know.

2. Ask them questions and take note of the answers

3. Get their business card and put a few notes on it for follow up later.

4. Introduce them on to someone else.



This article is a part of a series of articles to help new people and experienced people figure out how to utilize their REIA group and build their investing team. Please watch for our previous or upcoming articles:

1. Where to find a real estate investment club.

2. What to look for in a real estate investment club.

3. What to take with you to a real estate investment club meeting.

4. Get the most out of the vendors at the real estate investment club meeting.

5. Networking at the real estate investment club meeting.

6. Learning at the real estate investment club meeting.

7. Follow up after the real estate investment club meeting.

8. Beyond the real estate investment club meeting.

About the author: Kim Tucker is an active real estate investor in the Kansas City Metro area as well as the director of Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors or MAREI. MAREI works exclusively with real estate investors who want to learn and success at real estate investing. Get more information at http://www.kansascityreia.com/ or http://www.mareinet.com/.