At a daylong, intensive and fun seminar in November, marketing consultant and international radio personality Limor Schafman taught over 50 Israeli businesspeople how to network with their American counterparts. VIAB Executive Director Ralph Robbins hosted the event at the Israel Export Institute in Tel Aviv. Throughout the course of the day, Ms. Schafman said she and Robbins turned a room full of skeptics into an enthusiastic group of networking experts.

Ms. Schafman, president of Fairfax, Virginia-based Keystone TechGroup, and Robbins presented an intensive daylong session in Tel Aviv on breakthrough business networking techniques to a large crowd of Israeli technology business leaders at the end of last year. The seminar, entitled “How to Open Doors: Netplaying Your Way to Business Success,” was hugely successful, said Ms. Schafman.

Israeli executives in attendance said the event was "enjoyable, professionally rewarding, inspiring and energetic."

“Being successful in the US is about building the right relationships as quickly as possible. No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, be it with venture capitalists, customers, or partners, all of these relationships start with an introduction. Networking can take place anywhere – in a networking event and at your child’s day care center,” said Ms. Schafman.

The sessions focused on everything an Israeli businessperson needs to consider when networking with US business people, particularly potential partners and funding resources. The course took a very structured approach to networking, even paying tribute on seemingly mundane fundamentals such as how to hand someone a business card.

“Israeli business people need to be educated that business is done differently in the US than it is done in Israel. It is also done differently throughout the US. For example, in New York, it is acceptable to get right to business after very brief small talk, even at the first meeting. In Texas, however, you should expect to spend at least an hour engaged in small talk,” said Ms. Schafman. “You need to be prepared for both situations”

Ms. Schafman’s professional experience includes more than eight years of marketing strategy, business development and sales. Her areas of expertise include technology based product and services development and marketing for such industries as consumer electronics, themed entertainment, retail and shopping centers, visual display technologies, custom software development, and video games.

According to Ms. Schafman, many Israeli business people think “networking schmetworking.” In Israel, that’s because many tight relationships were formed in the military. These relationships carry over into the business world. In the US, however, and in Israel these days as well, a good businessperson needs a strong, well-developed network.

The session began with simple exercises on how to make a strong introduction. In addition to ice-breaking games, Ms. Schafman introduced techniques to make networking easier, such as listening skills and discussion topics. She also brought up ways to help the businesspeople build trust faster with the people they are meeting.

Another exercise focused on building the attendee’s “unique selling proposition” or USP, which many networking professionals consider to be the cornerstone of a strong first impression. After helping each attendee develop their USP, Ms. Schafman had the attendees try them out with each other.

For venture capitalist networking introductions, she said they should be prepared to quickly mention their name, title, name of the company, product or service, value proposition the product or service solves, market size, milestones achieved to date, and management team. She also suggested that the businessperson know what they want to achieve from the meeting, such as an introduction, opportunity to present to the VC’s board, or funding advice. For networking introductions to sales prospects, all of the above is pertinent plus a sample customer success story.

“It is important to strategically plot out your netplaying,” she said. “It is critical to know who you are, what you are selling, and what you hope to get out of each and every meeting. It is also important to build the networking right now, rather than wait.”

In order to aggressively build a network, she suggested that they choose conference, seminars, organizations to join, and boards to sit on strategically. The activities you choose to network at are just as important as how well you physically do the networking.

For events, she recommended that attendees find out who’s attending, in advance, in order to target the right prospects. Showing up late is not fashionable, just a way to lose an opportunity since most events in the US start on time and end on time. It’s important to dress appropriately and spend the time meeting new people, instead of focusing on the food. To do business in the US, she told the Israelis, dress appropriately for your audience, smile, show an open personality, give plenty of personal space, be on time, and speak with confidence.

Limor Schafman is based in Fairfax, Virginia and can be reached at limors@keystonegroup.com. She is also the host of “The In-Motion Marketing Show” on www.BusinessAmericaRadio.com every Monday at 8:00am-9:00am PST and 11:00am-12:00pm EST.