Posted on January 10th, 2008 by Adam in
Networking You already have a network and it is probably much bigger than you at first realise. Don’t believe us? Take a few minutes and write down as many of the following as you can think of:
- Family
- Friends
- School
- Alumni
- Previous jobs and ex-colleagues
- Clubs and Societies you belong to
- Business cards you have kept
Contact as many of them as you can and tell them what your company does and ask them for referrals – the people who you should be speaking to.
Plaxo [http://www.plaxo.com/] is a fantastic online tool for organising your contacts. A basic account is free and allows you to synchronise your contacts, diary, and tasks across several computers – very useful if you have both a PC and a laptop!
Plaxo automatically updates when your contacts update their information thereby saving you hours of administration. Upgrading to Plaxo Premium, for a small annual fee, allows you to manage duplicate entries, store more than 1,000 contacts, and view your contacts and calendar on your mobile phone.
Why network?
Business is fundamentally about building relationships with people… in building a business you need to make your relationships productive.
Networking, whether on or offline, is finding and establishing relationships with people and it can be a powerful opportunity for you to find more business contacts and therefore, ultimately, to do more business and do it better.
Organised networking events are a simple way of meeting new people and making new contacts but there are some Do’s and Don’ts you should be aware of:
Do
- Attend a group at least twice as a visitor and establish if that group is right for you before deciding to join - and certainly before parting with any of your valuable marketing budget!
- Join different groups to fulfill different purposes.
- Welcome newcomers after becoming a member of a group. Remember what it was like for you to walk into a room not knowing anyone.
- Drop the “What’s in it for me?” attitude.
- Thank the person who gave you a referral, and follow it up within 24 hours.
Don’t
- Enter a room and just hand out your business card to people who you don’t know.
- Try to be all things to all people or your message will be lost.
- Think you will come out with a sale.
- Force the conversation to you all the time.
Here are some UK Networking groups you may be interested in:
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