"You had me at hello." Remember those famous words from the movie Jerry McGuire? They let Tom Cruise know that Rene Zellweger's character was hooked from that point and that he didn’t need to say anything further.

When in networking situations, many small business owners leave their potential prospects and referral sources with a slightly different feeling. One, that if truth be told, is likely to have them saying, "You bored me at hello!" And let’s face it, this is definitely not the best way to grow your business or build a powerful name brand.

Networking opportunities are everywhere—whether you’re in line at the grocery store or attending a Chamber of Commerce event. There are even groups of people who regularly meet solely for the purpose of networking. And in most cases they work. But unfortunately, unless you and your company are remembered long after you leave the event, all the networking opportunities in the world won’t help grow your business.

So here are three strategies to avoid boring people during your next networking opportunity:

Gone in 30 seconds
In case you haven’t noticed, people today cannot even sit through a 30-second television commercial without changing the channel. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Any longer than 30 seconds for your "elevator speech" and you can expect your potential clients to start tuning you and your business out. They will start thinking about what they need to pick up on the way home and other random thoughts.

Many times, they are simply waiting for you to stop talking so they can try to sell you on their business. Therefore your brand message must be strong, short, simple and to the point. If you ramble on too much, others will start feeling like Charlie Brown listening to his teacher in school—"Wahwah, wah wah wah…" "Yes, ma'am."

Red or black: pick a colour
Roulette gives you the option of betting on red or black. If you bet red, you win when it hits on any red number. Winning is good. But if it hits on any black number, you lose. And losing is not so good.

However, when you "hedge" and bet on red and black together, you are guaranteed to not win. In a networking situation, limit what you talk about. Sure, you are risking leaving out something the prospect would like to hear, but unless you get lucky and mention it first, the odds are that you will lose their attention by then anyway.

Limit the scope of your brand or say everything and be remembered for nothing.

Listen
That's right, you are remembered more when you listen. Most of us go through our day fighting to be heard. It feels really good to be acknowledged and understood. So good, in fact, that we automatically think highly of the person listening to us.

Listening demonstrates that you value the person talking. Sincerely listen to what the other person has to say and they will leave with high regard for you and your business.

There you have it: networking success as in three simple steps! Follow all three strategies and you are sure to notice a sharp improvement in your networking. Before you know it, your future clients will be saying "you sold me at hello!"