Business networking is where you attend a social function and talk to other like minded business people about work. Doesn’t that sound interesting?
I try to talk to people about my business and nobody really seems to want to listen. Worst of all, it costs me a bucket load of money to join one of these groups and I get nothing back. Certainly not any profit.
I’ve continued to persevere with business networking because many people say that it does actually work, just not for me. This is why I came to hate it.
I was almost ready to throw the towel in when I can across a training session run by a lady who ran one of my local business networking groups. Simply entitled Business Networking Tips, it was designed to help the likes of me get something out of my networking activities.
There’s too much content in that one training session to write here but one significant point came out that firstly I have really taken to heart but secondly and most importantly, this one single tip has helped me actually win more business. This is serious $$’s that I can directly attribute to my networking activities.
The critical factor that I learned about was how to be patient and get to know and trust people. I was going into networking meetings with the objective of selling my services and on this basis I was planning the meeting in terms of what I was going to say and who I was going to say it to. My objective was to sell there and then so I was determined to ensure that I got airtime with those business leaders that I thought would be able to place business with me.
I hadn’t grasped the concept of referrals which effectively means that the person who ultimately places business with me could well be tier 2 of tier 3, in other words significantly removed from the audience in the networking group.
It’s not surprising to me now but the folks that have referred my business to their contacts were not the guys that I thought would be helping me. Rather than sell my business, I started using my 60 seconds to describe my business, what business problems I can help eliminate and a clear communication about the business contacts that I’m looking to make.
It took four or five months before things started to move but then all of a sudden the enquiries started to flood in and at first I thought that it was pure luck. Later I started to understand that these enquiries were no fluke and how they had come about – never again will I plan who to talk to and who not to!
Having read and digested all the business networking information on my trainers website, I’m now finding that business networking is the single most cost effective method of marketing my business and I hate it no more.
Author Resource:-
Peter Nash is now a serial networker and sharing business networking information and tips is now Peter’s passion in life so that more people get the most out of this cast effective marketing method. http://www.business-networking-techniques.com/index.html
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