Nine Networking Tips for Every Business person
Networking is important to the career of every successful business person. It builds rapport with prospects and customers that will hopefully lead to a greater number of referrals and a more successful closing rate. Pam Murray of Many Waters Publishing offers these tips to help you improve your networking skills:
- Make at least three networking calls a day. Okay, maybe you won’t do this every day, but realize that if you are to be successful at this you must practice and make an effort to keep reaching out.
- Give. Give. Give. Help people as much as you can. Remember, you will receive only as much as you give. Givers gain.
- When at an event, always sit with someone new. You can’t gain new prospects by constantly socializing with old acquaintances.
- Call a colleague and ask what kind of leads he or she is looking for. He or she will be pleasantly surprised and will think of you the next time he or she is handing out leads.
- At the beginning of each week, write down your networking goals and action plan for the upcoming week. It will make your networking much more valuable because you’ll know exactly why you’re taking each specific step.
- Call at least one person on your list whom you may be nervous about calling.
- Actively seek new ways to give leads to others.
- Join a networking group. This seems obvious but may be overlooked. Here is a place that you can practice and learn new skills in an on-going, regular endeavor.
- Have fun. Networking is the easiest, most enjoyable way to build not only a client base, but a support foundation that will see you through both good and bad times.
I have endeavored to give you a brief introduction to the powerful practice of business networking. The above mentioned Pam Murray has written a book on it. Ivan Misner and Virginia Devine have written extensively on the subject. There are many excellent books available.
Building your business through a concerted effort of business networking is certainly a practice that gives high return on investment. It really only requires that you make a commitment to it and follow through. Or you can spend unlimited amounts of money hiring a marketing firm to build a program and spend a lot of money on all the available public media, like radio, TV, newspapers and magazines.
Business networking really is fun because you get to meet new people and make new friends, and who doesn’t like friends? It really is a program that you can get excited about and reap the benefits of increasing the circle of friends, colleagues, and clients in your business and personal life.
Written by David Walrath
Ajalon Printig & Design
