Networking Strategies for Business Growth

"The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work." - Robert Kiyosaki

Networking does work for professionals in all fields, but there's a lot more to it than putting your company's name in a business directory. To benefit from networking you must be organized. You need to know your target, develop a strategy and then have a work plan.

To achieve this let's look at the following strategies:

1) Don't make everyone your target: Plan your networking strategies specific to your target. People love to do business with who they know. It will be waste of money and time to advertise where you do not have your target market. Your kind of business should set the tone for the target audience you are seeking to network.

2) Be Yourself: Don't fake who you are. Make sure you are well prepared. Have an idea of the set of people you want to network with. Be smart. Wear a winsome smile. Make sure you are noticed. Respond to questions asked wittingly. Work your body language and do not allow yourself to feel lost in the crowd. Stand tall

3) Join Purposeful Groups: Take up membership of industry related and community organizations. It's not just enough to be a member but you must be an actively participating one. Get yourself involved in sub-committees; contribute meaningfully to discourse as this will enhance your visibility before the people. Take time to build relationship first before talking business. You are very likely to get a business deal from someone you have built a relationship than with someone you just barely exchange greetings at your group meetings.

4) Online Presence: It is expedient for you to have an online presence for your business to grow. Networking brings you in contact with people who might be interested in what you have to offer. Usually, you may not be able to close a business deal in a single meeting, armed with your business card, prospective clients may want to look you up online and eventually decide to do business with you if they are satisfied with what they have seen and read.

5) Give Tailored Speeches: Be ready to give talks in the area of your expertise. Make due diligence and do a thorough research before you step on the podium to give that speech. Know your audience and know they are your potential clients and your ability to drive home your message and eventually win their hearts can make a huge difference for your business.

6) Look Beyond: Don't let it end at that single meeting. If you connected with someone, don't let it end there. Do a follow-up email, or send a thank you note and let the person know how glad you are to meet him or her. Ensure you keep this as professional as possible because at this stage, you may be under pressure to hurriedly get the deal close and may get things messed up in the process. Keep it professional while being real.

7) Be Media Friendly: You can't light a lamp and put it under the bed. You must get yourself out there. People will not know what you have to offer if you are not before their face. Let the media houses know what you represent and that you are available for interviews. There are newspaper houses that can help with advertorial for little or zero cost. Networking will be much easier when people already have ideas about what you do or represent.

8) Don't give up: That you didn't get it right with your networking the first time does not mean you have failed. Remain determined! The world is at the feet of those who are persistent. Keep attending those meetings; be involved in those committees, keep updating your online profile and information about your products and services, with time all these will pay off.

9) Move from Known to Unknown: Networking is not only about connecting with people you already know. It is launching out to uncharted territories with potential for networking to improve the growth outlook for your business. Don't spend so much time on people who already know you and your business. Direct your energy and time on building new network away from your present circle of influence.

10) Pay the Price: There is a price to paid in networking. You may sometimes need to travel far and wide just to find your target audience. Always know that the interest of your prospective clients comes first and not what you want to sell to them. Take an interest in what excites them. Be courteous and selfless in your dealings with them. Be ready to absorb the heat. When you pay this price, you will eventually win the prize.

11) Put God First: Always let Him lead the way in all you do. He knows where you can find the best clients who will take your business to the next level. When you commit these steps unto the Lord, He will lead you through and you will not be disappointed.

View the original article here

Read More

Big Fat Networking Mistakes - The 5 Most Common Things NOT To DO

Networking is a word that means many things to many people. At one end of the scale its a nerve racking experience that you make yourself do, for others its an opportunity and a fun way to meet new potential contacts and business partners.

The truth is that most of us go out to network in one way or another, by very few do it well. This is often due to a number of things, including combination of lack of skills, insufficient practice and lack of planning.

Networking is not something that many people are good at naturally. It takes time and effort to become a good networker, and along the way we frequently make a few basic mistakes.

Here is my list of the top 5 things to avoid when trying to build up your network:

1. Selling

Networking events are not an opportunity to sell. They are however, an opportunity to meet and get to know new people and start to build and re-establish relationships.

Don't try to get too much out of the event. This is the start of the knowing, liking and trusting process. The start only, and not the time or place to sell. No one buys at the initial meeting like this. You wouldn't, so why expect others to?

2. Elevator pitching

Bombarding the person you have just met with information about your product, service or company is a real no no. You might love what you do and the business you own or work for, but please don't assume that everyone else will too.

Although very popular since the 1990s dot-com boom, elevator pitching really does nothing more than bore the person you have just met into glazing over and looking for someone else to meet.

Start with asking about the other person about themselves, and their business. Find out about them and look for common reasons to start a relationship. Focus on them, not on you.

3. Giving out your cards like candy

The real key to successful networking, is meeting the right people and exchanging contact details, with a planned follow up. Handing your card out to as many people as you can, or collecting names and cards is simply a waste of your time, and of paper.

You must try to select the people (or types of people) that you want to meet, introduce yourself and start by giving. The best way to start a business relationship is to look to find people that you can help and give to them.

Clearly, we network because we want to get something. Your goal needs to be to connect, and focus on what you can provide. The sales and referrals will come later as a result.

4. Failing to follow up

In my mind this is business sin number one.

Not following up with the relevant people that you meet is really wasteful. You are looking to build a relationship here, and establish a long term connection. You want to cement yourself in the minds of those that you want to get know and grow to trust.

A simple follow up message saying how nice it was to meet someone, along with regular personal contact makes all the difference, and places you head and shoulders above those who simply send a linked in request, or indeed do nothing.

Similarly, not doing what you say you will do, is equally bad.

Once you have established a connection, and agreed to follow up, you simply must do it. If you promise to get in touch with someone, call or send them something, not doing so is not only bad business, but is nothing short of rude.

Do what you say you will. If you are not interested in following through with a new contact, then don't organise to do so in the first place.

5. Not conveying what it is that you do

When asked what they do, most people answer with their job title or what they are, e.g. "I'm an Employment Lawyer", "I'm Marketing Director for XYZ Co", "I'm a Recruiter."

Not only does this allow the other person's stereotypes to come into play, but it doesn't teach that person how you can help them, or who they can refer to you. You need to establish a way of communicating what it is that you do in a simple way that the other person can really understand. What it is you really do, and how and when you help people.

This takes more thought and effort than you might initially imagine, but get it right and the benefits are amazing.

For more on developing yourself, your staff and improving the profitability of your business, please do get in touch. You can email me at james@jamesnathan.com, or check out my website http://www.jamesnathan.com/.

I look forward to being in touch.

View the original article here

Read More

There Is a Difference!

There is a marked difference between business in the late 90's and the year 2012. New creative ideas and techniques, especially in marketing, are needed to keep businesses healthy, strong & growing. Networking, as a formalized structured marketing system, is one of those ideas.

A series of articles will focus on proven strategies your business needs in order to reap some of life's biggest rewards.

• What is Networking? For networking, the process basics are sharing ideas, information and resources. This process includes communicating and forming relationships with others. Networking, in its most basic form, is a flow of feelings and information between at least two people. In the business environment, networking can be used to develop contacts for increased knowledge, to expand your contact base, your sphere of influence or to serve the community.

• Just as there are fundamental laws of nature, there are basic strategies for networking success. Developed over the years, they hold true for individuals and businesses alike. They are not spectacular... or mysterious... or even especially brilliant. Networking success does not rely on creative genius or divine inspiration. It is based on a few simple, proven strategies that everyone can learn and anybody can do. The problem is that people either forget to do them, or they simply don't take the time. If you follow these simple strategies, you will be more successful. Your profits will increase. You'll do more in less time. And you will build better, longer and stronger relationships with the people you interact with.

Networking Strategy # 1 Using the Giver's Gain Philosophy

In a world that has taught us to look out for number one, a change has taken place. Many people have changed their views. Their priority and focus now is on how they can help others rather than always selfishly helping themselves first.

This change is occurring, in part by use of the Giver's Gain Philosophy. This philosophy encourages you to look out for the needs of others who, in turn, will look out for your needs. It is considered a win-win situation. You win by looking out for others, which makes you feel good about yourself. Those you look out for win by having their needs taken care of and they feel good about taking care of your needs in return.

*The Triple-Win Phenomenon - In life, if you plan to move ahead, you must far exceed people's expectations. In a winning situation, you must develop the Triple-Win Theory. This theory goes beyond a win- win situation and involves a third party in the discussion to increase your changes for success.

The Triple win phenomenon works like this: you meet someone, they have a need, you pass a referral and the process is complete. As a result, the person to whom you passed the need is happy because you used them as a referral source and they possibly got the deal. The person whose need you passed is happy because they appreciate receiving a referral to someone with whom you have already had a positive experience with, and they have the opportunity for a new contact. You win because you are able to help two people-two other people who will remember your name and appreciate your actions.

Ron's "Platinum Rule:

Staying consistent with the Giver's Gain Philosophy and continuing to exceed people's expectations is what I call the Platinum Rule of networking. Instead of simply doing unto others as you want others to do unto to you, just remove yourself from the formula and take care of others as they want to be taken care of.

In Summary

Don't just treat people as you want to be treated - go to the next level and do unto them, as they want to be done unto to. Consistent use of this philosophy, the Giver's Gain Philosophy, or some other adaptation of the Platinum Rule - leads to better business and personal relationships.

View the original article here

Read More

Where The Real World Hits The Virtual One In Small Business Networking

If you are a small business and you are engaged in social networking online, there is a time for personal socializing, and a time to get busy and do business networking. They aren't the same. I find far too many small business owners are mixing the two because perhaps they have a page on Facebook, and they have grown up in an era alongside the social networking venue. Then they try to slightly change their style to help their business, and that's when the trouble starts. Let's talk.

There is a time for social networking, and a time for business networking. No, I'm not suggesting that you push too hard in the business networking venue, but you need to make it clear that you are business networking, and not try to hide the fact, or get people to assume that there is no profit motive, when there definitely is. Otherwise you spent all of your time trying to manipulate the emotions of others under a falsehood, one which is easily read, and therefore makes you look as if you're hiding something and becoming disreputable.

If you are charged by another person online as being all business, admit the fact that you are in business to make money, and that you'd rather do business with friends if at all possible. Let them know that it's okay if they never purchase a product or service from you, but to please be good enough to refer you to their friends if the topic or subject comes up. That's how you handle that. Further, if you want to do business networking correctly, especially if you have a small business where most of your clientele is local, then you need to encourage your customers to participate with you, and reward them for doing so.

How might you reward them you ask? Well, that is a decent question, and it should be in the same vein as customer loyalty programs, or customer discount cards, or special offers that you explain or offer only online, or only to those folks who frequent your social networking page. You might find that people come more often if they know there is a personal gain for them. At that point they realize that they also have a profit motive as well, therefore it's much harder for them to charge you with not caring and only wanting to make a profit.

Lastly, the best thing you can do is try to merge the two worlds, that is to say as you do with Chamber of Commerce networking, and engage in other local business activities, you should be inviting people to your social networking page, and corresponding with them and their business and cross referring as much as possible. If you do that, you can expect good referrals in the real world where people are purchasing real products and services, along with continued interest and growth on your social networking site.

Indeed, of course I wish you the best of success, and I hope you will heed this advice, because it is quite apparent to me that far too many people are doing it wrong, and spending countless hours on social networks without getting any benefit. They are trying, but it's not working, and they may even be jeopardizing future sales without even knowing it. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Business Networking Strategies. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

View the original article here

Read More

Let's Do Lunch In a Businesslike Fashion - Make Sure You're Not Unconsciously Offending

The business lunch is a custom that almost all professionals will run into at one time or another during their careers. Though the idea seems straightforward - a simple lunch and conversation with one or more other professionals - there is far more planning and protocol involved than you might at first assume. Today we'll offer some tips to make any business lunch a success.

Who, What, When, and Most of All, Where

Be sure to choose a restaurant that is quiet and calm enough for a business meeting to take place. Trying to have a conversation even with friends and family in a chaotic bar or restaurant is extremely frustrating - imagine how much worse that would be between professionals on a schedule. Pick a location that you've been to before, and that isn't too noisy or chaotic for your working lunch to run smoothly.

Kindness is Golden

Make sure you treat the restaurant staff with respect. Being short with "the help" is very much a thing of the past. Rather than impress your clients or colleagues, rudeness is likely to give them a very bad impression of you as a business person, (not to mention as a person in general). Even if the service is subpar, be polite, and don't forget your "pleases" and "thank yous."

The Phone Addiction

... is shared by everyone, especially business people. For this precise reason, turning off your phone can be a great gesture of respect. Take advantage of this at your business lunch. Silence your phone and put it away. This lets your clients know that you consider them and their business important, and that they have your full attention. If you absolutely must check your phone, excuse yourself briefly and do so somewhere out of view.

Listen - Really Listen

It's so tempting to succumb to the feeling that you finally "have" someone's attention when you get together for a business lunch, and end up treating that person like a captive listener while you dominate the entire conversation with your sales pitch. It's so important to remember that listening is as important as, if not more important than, talking. Not only is it better conversational etiquette, but if you listen carefully, chances are you'll learn valuable information that might just help you be more persuasive in making your pitch.

Be Social - But Not Too Social

This is a difficult area for many. It's commonly accepted that a business lunch starts with some light small talk rather than an immediate business discussion. If you're not careful, however, you can end up extending the chit chat for so long that the "business" of the business lunch fades into the distance. Pay attention to your time frame and lead the conversation around to the business purpose in a reasonable amount of time. One rule of thumb that works for many is to switch to business after the lunch order has been made, and you're waiting for your meal to be served. And here's a side note: Do your best to consciously store the information exchanged in your casual conversation; personal news and events that you remember make good sources of conversation the next time you meet up with this person.

Follow Up

Whether you think it's old-fashioned or not, a thank-you note is always a good idea and reinforces the positive impression that you made during your lunch. You can of course make it brief and simple, stating that you enjoyed meeting over lunch and thanking them for the chance to discuss business face to face.

Jayne Latz M.A., CCC-SLP is a speech and communication specialist, author, and professional speaker, and principal of Corporate Speech Solutions ( http://www.corporatespeechsolutions.com/ ). She has trained individual clients from all over the world in public speaking, accent reduction, and best communication practices, and has provided training, lectures and/or workshops at RSM McGladrey, Ernst and Young, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, The Carlyle Group, Harry Winston, Morgan Stanley and Mount Sinai Medical Center, to name just a few. She is a featured speaker of the New York State Society for CPA's (NYSSCPA.org). For information about her training programs please visit http://www.corporatespeechsolutions.com/ or email Jayne at jayne@corporatespeechsolutions.com

View the original article here

Read More

Tips to Help Establish Business Contacts Abroad

Are you hoping to branch out into foreign markets? Or are you looking for a freelancer with local knowledge? No matter the reason, it's now very common to be seeking business contacts abroad. We live in an increasingly globalised world, aided in large by the internet that knows no geographical borders.

It can be daunting to have to establish business contacts in an unfamiliar location. It can also seem a tricky process if never done before. These tips aim to make your search for contacts easier, and encourage you to network actively.

If you have a budget set aside for your networking, there's no better way to meet people than actually heading over to wherever it is that you're looking to establish contacts. Before heading off, see if there might be any industry-specific events you could attend while there such as trade shows or seminars.

National chambers of commerce are your best port of call to find out about these opportunities. They may also be able to put you in touch with people directly so you are met by someone at the other end, and introduced to others in your industry.

If there's no chamber of commerce for you to get in touch with, turn to the internet. LinkedIn is the world's largest professional social network. Its purpose is to provide users with the opportunity to connect with others around the world. It is as such absolutely acceptable to browse people's profiles and send direct messages. In this case, the more personal your approach and the more detail you can give about why you've gotten in touch, the more likely the person is to respond.

You can also turn to Meetup, another nifty website, on which local volunteers act as group admins and arrange meetings or 'Meetups' for specific interest groups such as freelancers, bloggers, or simply those who share similar hobbies be it hiking or knitting. Meetings are held throughout the world in places such as cafes, pubs or museums. See what's on in the country you're headed to and contact the group's administrator to let them know you're interested in joining.

If you're a confident talker and speak foreign languages, reach for your phone. Do internet and publication-based research into who you might be interested in talking to. If it's a big company, start by phoning the secretary from whom you can obtain the email address or a direct line number for the person you'd be interested in talking to.

For those planning to spend a lot of time chatting to contacts in foreign countries, an international call plan is a good idea. In our globalised world it's easy to find companies offering services for making cheap calls to Thailand, other countries in Asia, and elsewhere in the world. It's a small but significant tip as it could save you lots of precious pennies in the long run, which is vital to any business' success.

Harvey McEwan writes to offer information on a variety of areas, from business networking to cheap call services. View Harvey's other articles to find out more.

View the original article here

Read More

Business Networking - Knowing Your Networking Financial Position Is Vital

Organised and paid for business networking can be an expensive activity if you don't monitor your financial position closely. To do this correctly you should factor in all the networking costs involved and measure these against all the networking derived returns generated.

All the recording and analysis of such financial data may seem tedious but knowing exactly what is happening with your cash flow is vital to any business.

Main Costs: These include such obvious items as the business networking group subscription fee and the per-meeting costs as well as any additional charges for food and drinks.
Hidden Costs: These costs are not always obvious and are sometimes overlooked. Some can appear trifling but can accumulate and must therefore be counted. The major hidden cost is lost opportunity. When you are networking you are not making any money directly for your business by selling, manufacturing, developing new products, creating designs, designing courses, etc... The argument against this statement would be that you are investing in building relationships but, until these generate income either by direct work with a contact or by referral, they do not yield actual profits at the time. What is your hourly rate? Include travel time. You should include such things as fuel for the car or public transport costs to the venue and any parking charges. You should also include the costs of any of your promotional material given out at the various events and any other applicable additional costs you can identify.
Profits generated: The basic method I use is accurate enough to determine if networking costs are exceeded by networking returns. Only use the profit returned on business generated by dealings with your business networking group derived contacts or referrals supplied by them. I use only received income but you can use whatever base line you are happy with. This is only to be used a rough guide after all.
Financial position: This is simply the money in minus the money out at any convenient point in time. If it is negative then networking is costing you money. Obviously there has to be subjective analysis of the result. If you have only been networking for a short while, you would likely expect poor results until momentum builds. Monitor things regularly and check that the numbers are moving the right way. If you get big negatives, even though you have been networking for a good while, then I suggest you may need to re-evaluate your networking activity. You may need to work on your actual networking techniques. You may also be in the wrong group or groups and may need to find out where your target audience networks and go there instead. Your business may benefit much more from other forms of marketing and you may need to seek professional independent advice on how best to redistribute your efforts.

In conclusion, knowing exactly what is happening with your cash flow is vital to any business. We monitor most costs in business so why should networking costs be any different? This can be ascertained by simply calculating networking generated profits minus all the money paid out for networking at any convenient point in time. If it is negative for too long then networking is costing you money and you may need to find out why.

I'm Andy Pope and I am committed to helping individuals and organisation develop more effective face to face communication skills. I hope you enjoyed this article.

Check out my website at http://www.eryrglas.com/

Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/e9T-Q

Hope to see you there soon!

View the original article here

Read More