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Business Networking: How to build your value through relationships.

Guest post by: MIchael Daley

Article Overview: Do you promote your business, make new contacts, and develop beneficial relationships? How do you get referrals? Networking is a vital business development and marketing tool that should be in your repertoire for business growth. Here are some recommendations for building your successful networking plan.

Business Networking: How to build your value through relationships.

Face-to-face networking is a very valuable skill when you want to meet a potential customer or link to people that can drive customers in your direction. I agree that social networking on the web has grown by leaps and bounds. However, live interaction brings out the primal influences of human communication. About 90 percent of in-person communication is conveyed through nonverbal actions. Your walk, posture, handshake, eye contact, facial expressions and appearance as well as your tone, rate, pitch, speed and inflection share volumes with those who are astute people readers. This form of communication is missing online. The words account for about 10 percent.

Not every networking event needs to be in your field of business. For instance, I might network with other consultants but it will also be helpful to network with small business lending officers. Find out what your customers do in their free time and what their interests might be. Go to the places where your customers or associations of your customers will be.

Networking can be a focused strategy of your marketing plan with goals, an action plan, and timetables. Not everyone in your pipeline needs to be a potential customer. Rather, whom they know can be just as valuable as giving you a sale from themselves. Who you know is important, but who knows of you is also important.

The more you have to offer, the easier it is for people to talk to you. Building credibility in a relationship, especially for a start-up, can be difficult. If you keep in mind WIIFT 'What's in it for them?', whether it is referrals, information, or assistance with a problem, then you have a better chance of making a connection, a great first impression, and a productive relationship.

Inform your network of trends in your industry and items that will benefit them or their business. People don't like to get continuous sales pitches and networking is more about relationship building than making the sale.

Here are some helpful hints when developing a networking plan:

• Plan the events you want to attend. Time is money.
• Know who you want to target.
• Determine your personal, networking goals. For example, your goal might be to meet 10 new people and receive 8 business cards.
• Follow-up. Write a follow up note to the 8 people who gave you a business card.

This puts follow up in your control. Your goal should not be to handout your business card, but rather to receive business cards so you can follow up. If you give out a business card and expect someone to call you, then it's like waiting in a retail store hoping a customer will come in. On the other hand, never leave home without a business card.

Talk to people about your business. It can be the person next to you on the plane, your dry cleaner, or even your dentist. Prequalifying, which is trying to determine who might be a potential customer or a person who can refer someone, prior to meeting them, is the worst possible mind game you can play when networking.

Remember, networking is about building alliances. As you might ask for references, be prepared to do the same if asked. Increased personal contacts will help you increase your online contacts on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook since most of you link only with people you know. You become more valuable as the size and quality of your network grows.

Once you have invested time and effort into face-to-face meetings, you can rely on online networking to stay in touch and strengthen your relationships. That's where the two methods fit hand-in-glove.

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Article Tags: alliances, business, business cards, credibility, customer, networking, relationships, skill



Related Forum Posts
Before You Drop Out Of School - This is a great question, At first thought, I didn't really see the value in my degree when I got it, until I figured out that school is a great place to build relationships, meet new friends, polish off your networking skills, and at the same time have the tangible credibility factor to display in your office. My business is consulting, and marketing my formal education is a great way for me to gain the trust of my clients. I personally intend on going back to school to get my masters, while at the same time operating my business. The degree is important, but the contacts and relationships you build are invaluable. Just my opinion.
Re: How to Promote a MLM Business? - I suppose that could work, but would be quite an investment and you better be a darn good salesman to pull it off. Most people are not. Actually, less than half of the population could do that effectively. MLM is NOT a sales business. Yes, retail sales is how money is made in any legitimate business, from MLM to Wal Mart, but that should not be the focus. If you focus on building relationships, those relationships will build your business. No hard sell required.
Re: Make Friends...Literally BUILD them! - I agree! Networking is definitely the key word here. What does everyone feel about the different Networking platforms out there? Twitter Facebook LinkedIn what are some others?
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: I thought social sites were a waste of time. How wrong I was - Absolutely, Social Media is massive and is a great way for you to build relationships with people, i.e the know like and trust aspect of things. Such a massive tool in this day and age, one not to be ignored


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