Essential Tips to Grow Your Business through Business Networking

This article first appeared on https://neelman.in/2018/11/21/essential-tips-to-grow-your-business-through-business-networking/

A whole lot of people do join various business networks and get excited about the connections that they start making there. The initial euphoria starts receding for some of them when they notice that things are not turning quite in their favor. Slowly this starts showing up in their behavior and actions. They start losing the momentum and start doing a few things must not be doing – i.e. avoid meeting people, absenting from meetings, stop communicating, and stop exploring.

Here’re are some tips that could help you to make better use of Business Networking. Remember the investment that you are making is not only money – It is also your time and energy.

Let us look at some of the aspects which may help you to become a great networker!

1.  Address the cause and not the effect: 

If things are not turning in your favor, look inwards first. Yes, it is difficult to identify our own lacuna and faults but it is so much help if you can identify the things that need correction within you. If you are not used to, ask one of the closest colleagues for candid feedback. Remember, networking is all about the mindset. This mindset has to be accommodating to understand what your networking group offers to you and how well are you making use it. These require a great bit of calibration.

2. Give More and Get More:

Considering that much of the world is out for personal gain, real networking never happens by taking. It happens by giving. You can’t just walk into a gathering with a single point agenda of “What I am going to get out of here”. Please realize that everyone around you is watchful and they start losing interest in you with this kind of attitude. This is the beginning of the decaying the rapport that you may have built over a period of time. “Giving” to someone requires you to thoroughly understand their business and that will require you to fully understand their offerings. It also requires you to go an extra mile to create the opportunity for others and when you do this, this causes an instant surge in your rapport with others too.

3.     Prepare, Participate and Penetrate

Networking meetings are not just another event. Treat these meetings as important as your internal team meeting or even a meeting with important customers. Every serious meeting does require preparation and so does your periodic networking meets too. Knowing that during the meetings, the focus light is going to shine on you for a limited period, you have to make that period count. Challenge yourself to make it as interesting, as meaningful and as powerful as possible.

Make an attempt to fit yourself somewhere on the agenda where your participation is visible. The more you are visible, the more you will be understood. Even if you are participating in some ways, make an attempt to participate more. There are so many ways you can participate such as being a help into the event (rather than strolling around as invited guest), giving constructive suggestion and inputs, heartily appreciating others and at times taking initiatives. Those who walk this extra mile definitely gets an extra mileage.

Attend an event with at least one objective, if not many – and that is to penetrate. The literal meaning of penetration is to get through or get across. Imagine that the person you pick to talk to is like a hard wall and you need to get across and you know it is not possible to demolish the wall in just one and first attempt. You also know that it’s important to first bore a hole and that makes it easy. That’s what the penetration is all about. Make effective use of your to communicate to create a sense of curiosity and that’s equivalent to boring a hole. Leave the rest the work to follow-up meetings.

4.     Invest your energy in building a relationship:

As a business owner, this is a no-brainer. The more you invest in building the relationship, more is the dividend you can reap. This requires skills like patience, listening and being empathetic. Every relationship is built on the foundation of trust and mutual respect. In the networking scenario, one of the struggles is the availability of time and it is advisable to build a very professional relationship and keep it that way. That saves you a lot of time on one hand and helps you to add a connection that’s more meaningful.

5.     Make networking integral part of your business

Quite often the new-born networker considers that networking is one more marketing avenue to promote their business or expand its reach. But if you observe carefully, some of the seasoned networkers have made Networking a very integral part of their business. It is no longer a separate or optional activity. Just like any other inevitable function of the business when networking is practiced as an inseparable function you are opening more possibilities. It’s not always about selling your products, services or solution but it should always be seen as a school from where you learn to make your business better.

Happy Networking!