Business matchmaking: 7 mistakes to avoid

These seven mistakes appear at practically every business matchmaking event, and all of them are avoidable with preparation. They belong to whoever takes part. If you organise, see mistakes at business matchmaking events.

1. Going without a plan

Arriving without knowing what you are looking for is the mistake that multiplies all the others.

What solves it: write the objective in one sentence before you leave the house. "Networking" does not count. "Find two distributors for the interior" or "find an accountant who understands manufacturing" does.

And set the target as a number. If it is 8 rounds at tables of 6 seats, you are going to talk to 40 people. How many of those do you want to become a conversation afterwards? Five is a realistic target. Zero is what happens without a plan.

2. Not knowing who will be in the room

Many organizers publish the participant list in advance. Whoever reads it arrives with a question ready. Whoever does not spends the first two rounds working out where they are.

What solves it: ask the organisation for the list. If it exists, choose the five priority companies and prepare a specific question for each. If it does not, at least ask about the profile and the predominant sector.

3. A pitch with no structure

Improvising for three minutes produces the same result every time: the table does not understand what you do.

What solves it: a 90-second pitch in four parts.

1. The problem you solve, starting with the pain rather than with who you are.
2. What you do, in plain language, with no sector acronyms.
3. For whom, with specificity.
4. The ask: what you are looking for in that room.

Time it. Almost everyone overruns on the first rehearsal. See how to present a product or service.

4. Talking too much

The time is fixed and the same for everyone. If the table has 6 seats and each person has 3 minutes, that is 18 minutes of presentation. Whoever speaks for 5 steals time from someone else, and the whole table notices.

What solves it: rehearse against a clock and stop when you finish, even if there is time left. Twenty seconds spare is better than sixty over.

And remember that the most productive part of the table is usually after the pitches, when the questions start. Whoever used up other people's time has no credit for taking part in that.

5. Not collecting or recording information

Forty conversations become a fog in 48 hours. That is biology, not carelessness.

What solves it:

• Take cards in quantity: count rounds times seats per table minus one, and add

a third. Over 8 rounds of 6 seats, take 50.

• Take a pen and write one word on the back of every card you receive.
• Note what the person is looking for, not what they sell. What they are looking

for is what lets you help, and helping is what generates reciprocity.

6. Not preparing for objections

A buyer asks about price, lead time and capacity at every table. Having no answer ends the conversation there and then.

What solves it: have the three numbers at your fingertips, and prepare an answer to the three most common objections in your sector. The best answer to an objection is almost never an argument: it is a question that reveals the person's real criterion, along the lines of "compared with what you pay today, what would have to change?".

And if you genuinely cannot serve that need, say so. Referring someone who can builds more of a relationship than pushing what you do not deliver well.

7. Neglecting your personal presentation

A first impression at a business table forms in seconds and is hard to reverse in three minutes.

What solves it: dress one step above what the organisation indicated, never two. Prioritise comfort, because you are going to stand up and sit down eight or ten times. Keep your hands visible above the line of the table. And divide your gaze between everyone present: always speaking to the same person makes the others disconnect.

The eighth mistake, which is the worst of all

Not following up. It was not on the original list because it happens after the event, but it cancels out everything else you got right.

A contact with no follow-up within a week goes back to being a stranger. The script:

• Day 1: separate the cards into possible customer, possible supplier and

possible partner.

• Days 2 and 3: a short, personalised message to the first pile, citing

something specific from the conversation.

• Days 4 and 5: propose an objective conversation to whoever replied.
• Day 7: record everything in one place, with the date of the next contact.

Do the funnel arithmetic: of 40 conversations, it is reasonable that 10 are a fit, 4 reply and 1 or 2 become a proposal within 90 days. That is the return on the ticket, and it only exists if the follow-up is carried out. See tips for strengthening relationships after the event.

A mistake that depends on the registration

At events organised with software, the supply and demand fields you fill in at registration determine who you are going to sit with. In Rodada de Sucesso, every meeting receives a compatibility score from 0 to 100 that cross-references supply, demand, interests, segment, priority and history.

Writing "various services" wastes the building of the tables, and then people complain about the event. Writing with specificity changes who sits in front of you.

Continue with 5 tips for doing well at a business meeting, what you should never say at a matchmaking event and lessons from those who got it wrong and recovered.