The short answer is yes, but the real question at the back of people’s mind is “when” and the answer to that is not only a truly personal experience, but can also be a matter of a combination of factors. Among these are luck (being in the right place at the right time), how well you get your message across, commitment (going to a business networking environment once and expecting to take away business immediately is largely unrealistic), networking in the right environment for you (we are all different human beings and you will achieve greater success in a business networking group where you feel comfortable) and understanding the ‘unwritten’ rules of networking and following them.
It is absolutely vital to understand that networking for business is about the long haul, and should very much be considered as the journey and not the destination in terms of gaining business. It is extremely rare that you will meet someone with whom you will do business or who will provide you with a contact with whom you will do business immediately - it can happen, but not often!
Because networking for business is about the long-term, it is about building relationships, establishing trust and allowing people to know and understand the product or service you offer. Through all of that, people will feel able to refer you when they are talking to their contacts or become a client/customer when they have a need for the product or service that you provide.
But business networking is about so much more than simply gaining business. To help those new to networking for business it is useful to answer some of the most commonly asked questions:
Networking for business is the most positive method of marketing your business on a face-to-face basis. Doing so allows you to gain business from referral as well as building a network of contacts who can assist you in developing your own business. It is an opportunity to share experiences with others in the business world, whether that is as an entrepreneur or as an employee, and learn from them as well as sharing your own knowledge and expertise.
Anywhere you can! Remember that networking is simply talking about your business, it is not about the ‘hard sell’. Opportunities to network are created at specifically created business networking events, but they can also occur naturally during any conversation in a whole variety of situations such as with members of your family, within a circle of friends or simply sitting next to someone on a train or bus. When attending organised business networking events go regularly to events where you feel comfortable.
Whenever you can - but that is a matter of personal and business life balance. There are many opportunities to attend networking events; in fact you could spend every day of the week networking. What you should to consider is balancing the need to gain business on a regular basis with giving yourself time to actually deliver to your existing clients or customers.
Joining a networking group or club can certainly be very beneficial, but many of the networking organisations that offer membership, and limit to one person from each type of business, will require you to attend each meeting without fail and, for new businesses, the costs of membership and weekly meetings can be prohibitive. Your comfort factor will also play a large part in how successful you are in gaining business. Some groups are quite formalised and rigidly structured and, if that works for you, then you will do well there. Many hold meetings first thing in the morning and if you are at your best at that time of day, that will work well for you too. There are networking organisations that simply open the door and let you in, if that works for you that’s great, but some people can find that a little overwhelming especially when they are new to networking for business. There are organisations that put some structure in place and leave the rest to you and, if that works for you, then that is where you will get the best results. Organised business networking events take place at various times of the day, again find something that fits in with the other demands on your time and with your personal comfort factor.
The answer to this question is about making a personal decision. It is easy to go only where you feel comfortable - and if you are successful in increasing the number of contacts you have and gaining sufficient business then that obviously works for you, but sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone will bring rewards too.
There is significant benefit in establishing positive relationships within your local business community and strengthening the possibilities for gaining business locally. That said, why would you want to limit your potential to do business by not networking with people from outside your local area, unless your business is geared to delivering a product or service that is entirely locally centred?
Because that is how you build relationships and trust, which is how you gain referrals. We come back here to networking being about the long-term. Commitment to growing your business requires commitment to attending networking events on a regular basis - that’s how you gain business. You may gain leads from attending a networking event once, but you will only gain referrals from people who know and trust you and who understand the product or service you offer.
A lead is when someone tells you that company X uses your product or service and may be interested in hearing from you. This information may also be accompanied by the company’s address and telephone number.
A referral is a positive recommendation by the referrer of you and your product or service to the decision maker in a specific company. This is where building relationships and establishing trust plays such a large part. You have to remember that when someone refers you to a contact of theirs they do so based on their own reputation - not yours. Ask yourself this question, would you recommend someone you have only just met to your largest client? Highly unlikely because, if they don’t deliver, your client then begins to question your judgement!
There can be many answers to this question and it is impossible to provide a simple single answer to it. The most helpful things to offer as food for thought are:
- Do you get your message across clearly about your product or service?
- Do you just hear or do you really ‘listen’ to the other person?
- Do you share information or bombard the other person with detail about your business?
- Is your business very specialised? Do you need to network in specific professional groups? Do you need to network in single gender groups?
- Are you selling instead of networking?
- Are you prepared to ‘give’ first?
- Do you follow up every lead or referral you are given?
And finally ……
Quite apart from the benefit of gaining business from networking, you will make new friends as well as establishing business relationships. There are very good opportunities to learn from the experience of others in handling difficult situations as well as having access to knowledge and expertise that you may need from time-to-time. For the sole trader or the person carrying the responsibility for employees, networking also provides an environment that is not only rich with opportunity, but also a positive break from the isolation that may can feel in that rôle. There will also be social activities provided by many of the networking groups that exist to provide a ‘break’ from the daily business routine - but networking will happen there too!
© Laura Swetman
AQ Networking for business