So you're standing in a hotel with dozens of other business people racking your brain for something to say to get started. Sound familiar? Not many people find networking easy, and talking about your business in those situations can be terrifying. But it doesn't have to be. Preparing your “elevator pitch” well can make a huge difference for both face-to-face and social networking, but your pitch must be clear.

Whether standing in front of someone telling them about you and your business, or writing your LinkedIn headline and summary, your pitch must:

• Start with something catchy to get people interested

• Include key benefits to your customer – why should they care in the first place?

• Involve a call to action – what they need to do next

• Be clear and easy to understand - avoid acronyms or MBA-speak.

However, networking is not just about meeting new people for the sake of it. Establishing quality connections is the aim of the game – how will that person help you to achieve your goals? How mutually beneficial will the relationship be?

Before you start, make sure you consider your ideal network members (whether that's face-to-face or online) and establish your goals – what do you want to achieve? If you know who (and what) you're looking for, this will then make it much easier to home in on the right person at a networking event, or search for new connections on LinkedIn, and will ultimately help you on the road to establishing and building those quality relationships for your business.

Now for the practice! Come along and try out your elevator pitch at our next large event, Superfast Business Success, taking place at Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate on Tuesday, October 15, plus find out more about using LinkedIn to generate leads for your business at one of our taster workshops on the day.

To find out more about the Superfast North Yorkshire business support programme and book your free places, visit www.sfny.co.uk or phone 0845 002 0021.