I don't network - it's too expensive

Recently I was talking to a business person who has been self employed for a long time and she said she never goes networking - as it's just too expensive and the return on investment isn't there.

I find this utterly unbelievable but I know better than to push on a closed door. I have been networking for 30 years - 20 of those as an employed journalist and ten as someone running their own business and still being a freelance journalist. Networking works - if your expectations are realistic and you understand it's basically an opportunity to START a business relationship, the rest is up to you.

Like many marketing activities - it's very difficult to come up with sums which match your investment in a networking organisation. I belong to five different groups by the way and am very active in three of those. If you take the membership fee and add up the individual costs of the meetings you are able to attend and then work out cost per meeting, it can sound high - maybe ￡35 to ￡50 per meeting could be your overall investment. If that's your criteria then networking probably isn't for you - as you'll always be looking for the sale, you'll always be running the sums, and you'll always be walking a mile to save a penny. The returns will never come quickly enough and frankly it will often be your own fault.

Networking has more to offer than that:

*It gets you out and about meeting people - journalists know about this and its value even if that value does come back immediately. You get the best stories by being out and about in the community even if that requires an investment of time and money.

*It allows you to share your insight and expertise to the people in the room - and the people they know (and you can't see) and when they trust you enough they will refer you.

*It allows you to connect with others even if there's no obvious synergy in your businesses - you can start talking over social media as a start. It's the first of something and not the last, if you are doing it well.

*It opens your mind to opportunities which you can't even imagine. This might be finding out about an event which is perfect for you, helping someone unexpectedly who then goes to be an advocate for you, finding a strategic partner who will be excellent for your business, coming up with ideas of how you might work with another person to offer another product or service in collaboration (this happened in front of my eyes just this week).

*Having started to build relationships it will lead to business but this may be several months down the line - however if you never start that journey you'll never get the business.

Being an extrovert, I'd network anyway to some extent but I network so much more now because I know it works - I've proved it to myself through the financials, looking over the long term.

A few years ago I was asked to talk about finances in business - an interesting topic for someone who is not clued up on this. I did some research and looked at my invoicing over a three year period. I made notes on where first contact was made with a client. To my surprise networking came out on top, something I'd not clocked in the numbers because I'd simply not bothered to track it.

There it was in black & white. Social media came second. Again I'd not clocked that. Often with social media in the early days it was through being able to maintain contact easily with someone from a past professional relationship which I would not have been able to do physically in any other way. Social media allows people to feel they are part of your circle when in the real world it would be impossible to maintain that professional relationship.

Being connected in the real world and virtually with people in business is, for me, critical for sales and for my pipeline. It's not the only thing to do but for those who say it doesn't work - it does if you understand the parameters and you let go of set beliefs. If you are going and nothing's happening - look to your behaviour.