What you are about to read resulted in three warm leads in 15 minutes.

When I arrived at the Managing an Agency Business event I was met with the customary table full of blank name stickers and permanent markers.

Back when it was customary to check-in on FourSquare I used to write my Twitter handle on my name badge since many folks knew me from Twitter.

That was not applicable for this crowd. I wrote my full name and stopped, but 3/4 of the name sticker was blank. Then I found myself writing “WordPress Site Migrations”.

I thought nothing more of this until in just a few minutes I had three business cards in my pocket from people that wanted to meet or talk again about how we could help them.

Managing an Agency Business. Lightening bolt on my head.

Writing a company name would not have had this kind of impact. Most company names don’t precisely communicate the primary services your organization offers.

In talking with Abe Belini of Komarketing and James Hilton of Simplus Group after the event I found myself explaining the benefits I had experienced of writing what I do instead of my company name on my name badge. The brand name WordPress is something that everyone recognizes and wants. Migrations implies that we can not only migrate a site from any platform to WordPress, but also that we can build sites from scratch on WordPress since that is part of the process of a migration.

When people are in a networking environment and are eager to help others, the first thing they want to know is what you can do. In fact lots of folks show up looking for talent. So, the next time you are at an appropriate event, Abe and James suggest writing what you do on your name tag, rather than your company name. Besides, it is great to leave out some obvious piece of information, like your company name, so that people feel comfortable, even eager to ask you who you work for. It is a very easy way to start a conversation.

Two other take-aways related to growing your business and networking.

Ask for the other person’s business card. Getting their card puts you in control of when and whether or not to call them. Plus, when you tell them that you will email them (since you didn’t give them your card) they will be impressed when you do what you said and they get that email.
Be a presenter or speaker. Don’t stay in the audience forever. People you don’t even know will come up to you like you are an expert, and some will hire you. Great stuff.
Come back here and let us know how it worked for you after you customize your name tag with what you do, instead of your company name. And if you want to migrate to WordPress, check out http://BlogWranglers.com. You will be glad you did.