The great thing about working in marketing is that it allows you a certain amount of creative licence. As I’ve been progressing through the A-Z of Marketing, I noticed that there was no image available for Q in the series that I’ve been using. I needed to commission an image, so asked Google for animals beginning with Q. My favourite, after the Qinling Panda, Quoll (a small furry creature from Australia) and Quagga (which is now extinct) is Queen Bee. I know it’s not your usual animal, but that’s one of the clever things about marketing – being unusual is what will get you and your business noticed!

The Queen Bee is usually found at the centre of the hive. She is surrounded by worker bees that look after her. They all follow her and protect her fiercely. She is often much bigger than the other bees in the hive and is therefore easy to spot and easy for her followers to find. She does things differently to all the busy bees around her.

How to Be a Queen Bee

There are marketing lessons that coaches, consultants and trainers can learn from Queen Bees, whether you’re male or female. When you sell a service such as coaching, consulting or training, you are selling yourself, your time and your expertise. This means that networking is one of the best ways in which you can promote your business. But if you slip quietly into a networking meeting, keeping your head down and only speaking to people you already know – or not speaking to anyone at all – you’re never going to find new clients.

Look around any networking event and you’ll see Queen Bees. These are the people to whom others are attracted – the people we all want to speak to. They have a certain presence or charisma that attracts us to them – like bees to a bright flower. You may see people swarming around the Queen Bee at a networking event, queuing up to speak to them, get their opinion or just offer them a cup of coffee. Watch a Queen Bee in action to see what you can learn from their energy and their approach, to help you become the centre of attention when you’re networking.

Creating a Buzz about Your Business

If you’re not yet that confident about networking, the best way to make it more effective for you, while creating a buzz about your business, is by asking questions (because in the A-Z of Marketing, Q could also be for questions.) The easiest way to get over any nerves you may have about networking is by asking questions – get the other people talking. Please don’t rely on the thoroughly over used question of “What do you do?” but think more about what you would really like to know about someone else’s business. “Who are your ideal clients? How do you help them? What do you love about your business? What makes your business different?” There are over one hundred questions that you can ask, to start a conversation – in fact I wrote a list of 101 of them a few years ago. You can see the full list here. Do try some of them out the next time you’re networking. You can use a number of them to keep conversations going and to find out if the person to whom you’re speaking is an ideal client, good contact or just a nice person – or if they’re someone you don’t want to speak to anymore!

How does this create a buzz about your business? No one likes listening to people at networking meetings drone on about their own company. We like to talk, so if someone (the Queen Bee) is asking lots of questions, you can have a much better conversation. We find ourselves attracted to people who are interested in us, so if you can show interest in other people, you will attract them to you. A couple of months ago I met someone at a networking meeting and I asked him lots of questions about his business. He told me that he was a coach who was new to business and struggling to find new clients. When I finally let him ask me about my business, I was able to say that I work with new coaches who are struggling to find new clients. “You might be able to help me,” was his reply!

Work on becoming a Queen Bee when you’re out networking and you will able to attract the right followers and clients to you, who want some of your buzz!

If you need any help with networking – from knowing how to present your business in 60 seconds to speaking for 60 minutes, do get in touch and I can show you how to create a real buzz about your business. Call me on 01635 578 500 or click here to send me an email.