By spending time talking to people about your business you can raise your business’ profile and it may also refer clients your way. Research the networking events in your local area and go along to generate business.
Remember! It is very important to research networking events and even go to a few (adopting a ‘try before you buy’ attitude) before deciding on which one(s) you feel is right for you and your business.
Each event is different in that some may require you to be in a certain area and others may ask you to pay a monthly or annual fee. So remember – find one that suits you and will benefit your company!
It is possibly even more important that you don’t choose a networking event that has a lot of people from the same sector or industry as yourself as they are effectively your competition.
A useful tip when attending networking events is to have a particular product/service that you want to push that week/month rather than going in there and bombarding people with every aspect of what your business does.
Here are a few networking events to get you started:
- MyWirralHub – Wirral/ Don’t have to become a member/ Free or Pay for own Lunch/ Once a month/ Must be a business from local area.
http://www.mywirralhub.org.uk/
- CEPN Business Forum – Chester/ Need to become a member to join/ £60 a year if your business has been established for over 12 months and £30 if under 12 months/ Once a month.
Good luck and happy networking!
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An interesting read again thankyou. Networking is an amazing business generation tool. I feel I must add my input to this although my input is a slightly different take on this one. I feel the best way to generate new business is to talk about theirs, ask questions as opposed to talking about your business. If they have a need they will ask what you do and if they don’t have a need they will potentially go out of their way to find someone that does for you. You need to build a rapport before talking about what your business is or you run the risk of making them feel like you are there to sell and not
network.
A common mistake people make whilst networking is they go with the intenion of selling.
Hope this helps.
Rachel
I would say that at least 85% of my business comes from networking. Networking is a vital tool for a coach as the nature of our business is a “face to face” one where people need to get to know you personally before they make a decision to work with you. However, everyone can benefit from networking as it’s the cheapest and easiest way to gain new business.
Have a look at my networking article in this magazine: http://martincrous.com/magazine/SuccessforLife.html
Networking works as much as you work at it. There is an old saying, “The more you give, the more you get”. This is very true in networking. If you help other people, then they will mostly try and help you in return.
Don’t be one of the minority that go networking just to get business, because you won’t have much success at it.
Be patient and help others first.
That’s great advice Rachel! Most people think of networking as merely promoting themselves, but there is nothing worse than someone you have known for all of ten seconds thrusting a business card into your hand and forcefully telling you eveything their company has to offer. Not only will it put you off, but you will make a point of telling people in your networking circle to avoid the individual so effectively they have destroyed any chance of being given referrals.
Therefore, make it your prerogative to help others first and not simply see networking as an opportunity to sell yourself.
One last thing then I’ll shut up (I promise)… When networking the MOST important thing to remember is to follow up. As Wayne suggests above you get out of it what you put in. If you go and collect business cards and then do nothing with them when you return to your office chances are you will never hear from the people you conected with again.
I did some work with a company that handed me a box of business cards that had been collected over a period of 6 months (no follow up carried out AT ALL). What a waste of between £10-£20 a time.
A courtesy email should be sent just saying that it was good to meet them (I’m hoping it was), a brief outline of what your business entails, what sort of clients you can potentially work with and always remember to ask for the same by reply. This makes your recipient feel valued instead of used. I try to do this by phone but that’s because I LOVE the phone.