Unlocking The Power of Real Business Networking!

I had an email asking for my help a couple of weeks ago from somebody I met once at a networking event.

Fair enough, that doesn’t exactly sound earth-shattering does it?

But when you factor in that I only ever met this person once, at a meeting about 100 miles from home, and this was about 5 years ago, then I feel pretty smug about being that memorable.

What’s interesting about this though, is thinking about each of the links in the chain that led to ‘Bob’ getting back in touch.

• I was the featured speaker at that event (if you get opportunities to do that grab them with both hands – they’re gold dust!)
• I know Bob’s also watched one of my featured YouTube videos a few times and sent me great feedback about it more than once.
• And we’ve stayed connected on social media, although only fairly fleetingly these days.

“So Paula”, I hear you cry … “is there a point to this story?”

Well yes, yes there is.

And the point is that good old fashioned face-to-face networking is a powerful tool that lots of people underestimate.

I know it can seem illogical to go and spend 2 hours in a room with 15 people when you could be talking to 15 bazillion people on LinkedIn.

And maybe it's a ridiculous place to talk about the benefits of offline networking but hear me out ...

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You see, for me the depth of conversations are sooooo different. I have some great conversations on LinkedIn, and I've met clients and suppliers on here too.

But it's waaay harder to build the depth of connection online compared to being face to face in the same room with someone.

So my little bit of food for thought for you today is this:

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Next time you’re sitting staring at a blank screen trying to find something scintillating to say about your boring week in the office. Or next time you’re peed off by yet another ranty, moaning keyboard warrior who just wants to insult people online … why not go networking instead?

?Give yourself a break from the screen and keyboard. And meet actual people. Real ones, in the flesh. Who aren’t rude to people!

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Networking has consistently been one of the best marketing strategies for my business for the last 14 years so yes, I’m very biased.

And yes, there are also plenty of groups out there which are horribly regimented and more about making money for the organisers than about helping the people in the room to win new business.

?But there are plenty of amazing ones too.

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Still not sure you believe me?

Then have a nosy at my video this week which explains exactly why I think networking is so awesome, and I promise you there’ll be an angle or two in there that you’ve probably never considered.

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And THEN … I dare you to go and have a nosy into local networking groups and book yourself in for a visit. Who knows which amazing people you could meet there?

?So tell me ... are you a fan of real "in the flesh" networking these days

#BusinessNetworking #MarketingStrategy #BusinessTips #TyaloryTips