Blog are you networking in the right rooms?

Last week I had to choose between two events on the same day.

Adventures in Marketing's annual event in Edinburgh. Brilliant speakers, inspiring workshops, great energy. I do love it as an event. And I've been up twice before, including speaking on stage last year, and genuinely enjoyed it both times. The audience is predominantly marketers and founders from a wide array of sectors.

The other event was a networking-based evening reception with the City of London Corporation Arts and Culture committee at London's Guildhall. A prestigious venue with senior people from arts organisations, cultural institutions, and local government.

As much as I'd have loved to have made my way to Adventures in Marketing as it would have been fun to reconnect with loads of familiar faces, and to learn some new marketing things, I decided to go to the Guildhall instead.

And that was definitely the right move for my business. I had loads of interesting conversations as everyone was geared up for networking and wanting to have conversations and meet new people. It was buzzing. By the time I got home, I had two messages waiting about potential projects. Admittedly, that doesn’t happen too often. But this happened because I was in a room full of people who commission the work I do, therefore far more aligned to my ideal target audience.

All of this ties in with my belief that your networking should match your positioning.

And here's what I've realized after 24 years in this industry: most firms are getting this wrong.

What your diary actually tells me

When I'm working with architects and engineers on the business development elements of thier marketing strategy. I always ask where the partners and BD team are actually spending their time.

Their diaries really don’t lie.

I’ve seen architecture firms who want more commercial work but spend most of their time in rooms full of other architects, their competition, rather than heading out to places where their ideal clients actually hang out.

I’ve seen firms who say they want higher-value clients, but they're networking in rooms with people who quite frankly don’t handle budgets of that size.

Anyway, you catch my drift - there’s a strategic disconnect between what they say they want to do and what they’re doing in practice. This really isn’t unusual and can easily slip into day-to-day activities as people feel want to stay well within their comfort zone. But the big thing for me is doing the work on identifying your ideal client and doing the leg work to understand where they tend to hang out.

If you can't identify the right rooms where you should be, then you haven't defined your ideal client. At least, you haven't defined them well enough to be commercially useful.

The visibility trap

There's this belief in our industry that visibility equals commercial success. Be everywhere, be seen, stay front of mind and that’s at it.

But if you’re not visible in the right places and spaces to the right audience - then what’s the point?

I see practices burning thousands in sponsorship for industry events where nobody in the room can commission their work. I see BD teams exhausted from attending everything and then wondering why nothing's converting. I see partners frustrated that all this networking isn't translating to pipeline.

The real problem is focus. Or lack of it.

When there's no clear strategic positioning and clarity, you end up trying to appeal to everyone. Which means you end up everywhere and appeal to no-one.

What strategic networking actually looks like

Strategic networking means being in front of the right decision-makers at the right time with the right context.

That's three things you need to get right simultaneously.

Right decision-makers: The actual people who commission work like yours or who directly influence those decisions. Specific organisations, specific roles, specific challenges they're trying to solve.

Right time: When they're actively thinking about the problems you solve, the sectors you work in, the challenges you address. Remember the 95/5 rule - where 95% of clients are not in the market for many goods or services at any one time

Right context: In environments where substantive conversations actually happen. The Guildhall event worked because everyone was geared up for networking and wanted conversations. Compare that to events where you're collecting business cards in three-minute exchanges that lead nowhere.

Miss any of those three and you're just burning time and energy.

The diagnostic questions

Here's what I ask consultancies when we're looking at their business development approach:

Can you name five specific events or communities where your ideal clients spend time?

Specific. Named. Where exactly are they?

If you can't answer that, you don't know your target market well enough. You're guessing. And guessing is expensive.

Do your partners know who they should be talking to this quarter?

Specific organisations, specific types of decision-makers, specific opportunities or challenges they're facing.

If they don't know, your business development is reactive. You're waiting for opportunities to appear rather than creating them.

What proportion of your networking time is spent with people who can actually commission your work?

Be hones and track it for a month. I bet it's under 30% for most firms.

That means 70% of your BD effort is going to the wrong places. The opportunity cost is massive.

What being scattered actually costs you?

What is the real commercial impact?

If you've got capacity for one networking event a week that's roughly 50 opportunities a year. If 80% of those are strategic (right people, right time, right context), you've got 40 genuine opportunities to be in front of decision-makers. If only 20% are strategic, you're down to 10 opportunities. You've just reduced your potential pipeline by 75%.

But it gets worse.

Every time you show up to the wrong event, you're signalling to the market and to your own team that you don't know who you're for You're reinforcing your lack of focus. You're making it harder for clients to understand what you're actually good at. You're positioning yourself for the wrong work.

The firms that get this right

The practices that get this right are mega focused. This may mean going to fewer events, but better ones with the right plan in place. They've defined their target clients specifically enough that they can identify exactly where those people are. They know which types of developers, working in which sectors, facing which challenges.

They've built relationships with the organisations that bring these clients together and the industry bodies, professional associations, networks sector-specific groups and even Whatsapp groups that they’re part of.

They're creating their own events when the right rooms don't exist. Intimate roundtables, sector briefings, technical seminars - always with a tight, specific audience.

And their conversion rates are completely different. When you're consistently in front of the right people, opportunities emerge naturally. You're positioned where opportunities happen.

What this means for you

Pull up your calendar right now. Look at the next three months. Count how many networking events, industry gatherings, community commitments you've got. Now be brutal: for each one, can you honestly say that at least half the room will be people who could commission your work or introduce to people who do?

If the answer's no, you've got a positioning problem. You can't network your way out of unclear positioning. You'll just end up everywhere, exhausted, wondering why nothing's working. The firms that win better work at better fees are crystal clear about who they serve, what problems they solve, and where those clients actually are.

Then they show up there, consistently with something valuable to say. That's what it means for your networking to match your positioning.

Three questions before you say yes to anything

Before I commit to any event now, I ask myself:

1. Will at least half the room be my target audience?

The specific people and organisations I'm trying to reach. If I can't confidently say yes, I don't go.

2. Will there be actual conversation time?

Some events are designed for meaningful exchanges. Others are performative networking where you collect business cards and nothing happens. I've learned to spot the difference. The second type is almost always a waste of time, regardless of who's there.

3. What commercial outcome am I trying to create?

Be specific, am I trying to meet potential clients in a particular sector? Build relationships with referral sources? Position around a specific capability? If I can't articulate the strategic purpose, I shouldn't be there.

The pattern I keep seeing

Here's what I see when I audit business development approaches across the built environment sector: Most firms are working really hard but the effort is scattered.

And the reason it's scattered is because they haven't done the hard work of defining who they're actually for. What problems they solve better than anyone else. What makes them the obvious choice for a specific type of client. So they hedge their bets and try to appeal to everyone. They network everywhere. And nothing converts the way they hoped.

Your networking strategy can only be as good as your positioning strategy. If you're unclear about who you serve, your networking will always be scattered.

What to do about it

If you're reading this and recognising your firm - or yourself - here's what I'd suggest:

Stop networking for a month and spend that time getting clear on your positioning, targeting and audience. Then figuring out where they really hang out.

Define your ideal client specifically. Which departments at local authorities, dealing with what challenges, at what stage of their decision-making process.

Work backwards from there. Where do those specific people spend time? What do they care about? What conversations are they having? Then build your networking strategy around that. Ruthlessly cut everything else. You'll go to fewer things. You'll probably feel uncomfortable about it at first because we've been conditioned to think more is better.

But your pipeline will be stronger for it.

Two wins

That choice I made last week - Guildhall over Adventures in Marketing - came from knowing exactly who I serve, where they are, and making strategic choices based on that clarity.

Both are brilliant events. But only one was full of my ideal clients.

So here's my question for you: does your networking match your positioning?

Your diary knows the answer, even if you don't want to admit it yet.