Angus Long of business consultancy, Impression Marketing, explains and highlights the benefits of successful business networking
Many people often misunderstand and underestimate business networking opportunities. Which is a shame, because it can prove very lucrative. There are four principle areas to the secret of successful networking.
First – Organisation and structure
I’ve been to many networking events where I’ve put on my name badge, grabbed a drink and entered a room of people I don’t know. The vast majority, either standing alone gawping at their mobiles or chatting to colleagues and cliques. Leaving as empty handed as I arrived. This doesn’t work and is frankly, rather pointless. Effective business networking needs to have a purposeful structure, so that attendees understand what’s happening, how to prepare and what to expect. A good example is the B2B Networking Organisation. B2B Networking, which originated in the North East, is an extremely effective networking system that uses a proven template. In short, members meet over breakfast in a relaxed atmosphere at a local venue. In turn, each member is given the opportunity to briefly outline their business, products or services and what they are looking for. Then one member is asked to present a more detailed overview of what they do. Then the group brainstorms some topical commercial issues and looks to assist fellow members with advice, contacts and referrals. Over time members get to know each other personally as well as professionally and as such get to like and trust each other. This is crucial, because without understanding, trust and respect people are unlikely to share knowledge or business contacts with strangers. Networking groups that exert undue pressure to supply referral quotas, as a membership criteria, tends to result in people providing weak referrals or risk upsetting hard earned clients, which defeats the object.
Second – Patience and trust
Networking is principally a sales and marketing activity and needs to be considered as such. All successful sales and marketing activity requires patience and trust. Like a course of anti-biotics, marketing activity needs to be sustained to be effective. Just as an advertising campaign needs to be structured, persevered and given time to work. It’s the same with networking, you need trust and patience for it to succeed. It’s unrealistic to expect instant results after just one meeting. Only until people get to know you, will they realistically open up and share valuable commercial assets with you.
Third – Effort
Like most things in business, you get out what you put in. The same goes for networking. People, by nature, are reluctant to trust strangers immediately and will wait until they are more familiar before opening up. Those who put in the extra effort to understand fellow members and going the extra yard with preparations and presentations will be the ones who become trusted and respected first and consequently the ones to benefit from quality referrals and recommendations first.
Forth – Belief and attitude
To succeed in anything, you must first believe in what you’re doing, otherwise you’ll not achieve your full potential. No matter how good the patter, a sales person who doesn’t fully believe in the product they’re flogging won’t do as well as those who do. It’s the same with networking, so it’s essential that the right people from the business attends. If the members of the group are predominantly business owners, directors or senior managers, then make sure you send a representative of an equivalent standing as it would be unfair and unrealistic to send raw recruits or apprentices along. And, more often than not, will make it harder for fellow members to take your commitment seriously.
Summary
Networking won’t be for everyone, but for those who embrace the opportunity, chose the right group and put in the effort, the rewards can be very lucrative. I can honestly say, the vast majority of my business comes from networking and, pound for pound, offers a very good return on investment. When it comes to selecting a networking organisation there are lots out there of varying quality. Having tried Network B2B, I can honestly say they are one the very best, if not the best, out there and well worth a try.
