What is networking?
In business, networking involves meeting and establishing mutually beneficial relationships with other business owners, potential suppliers, customers or other professionals. It gives you access to a pool of experts, ranging from clients to competitors. By exchanging services, advice, knowledge or contacts, networking can help you establish a new business or grow an existing one.
Why is networking important for a business?
Here are five ways that networking can help your business.
1. Opportunities
Networking can open doors and give you access to opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise had. You never know when one of your peers will embark on a new venture. If you have established a good relationship, the chances are good that you will be one of the first people they consider when they’re looking for a partner. Networking could also set you up for an asset or business sale, writing or speaking opportunity, client lead and much more. For your business, this means new prospects, more cash flow and new areas to explore.
2. Find partners
Networking is a low-cost way to find great local suppliers, retailers, or logistics partners who can help your business grow.
3. Identify best practices
There’s a lot of trial and error when it comes to running a growing business. You’re constantly coming up with new ideas to grow your business and trying them out to see what works best. An advantage of connecting with other business people in your industry is that you can learn from both their successes and failures. They can tell you about the strategies they’ve used that worked well and the ones that didn’t work so well. For example, if you run a restaurant, you might learn about the latest software programs or employee management practices that other businesses have successfully implemented.
4. Build brand awareness
Especially when you’re starting out, getting your business name known isn’t easy. By building a strong network with other businesses and partners, you can increase the visibility of your business. Networking gives you an opportunity to sell yourself and your business, and get your name known. And being known will make it more likely that you’ll be referred to a wider network of people and more opportunities will come your way.
5. Identify trends
The business world is dynamic. Networking helps you keep on top of the latest trends in technology and business because it gives you access to insider information. Fresh ideas and new ways of doing things can give you a competitive advantage.
Networking activities for businesses
If you’re considering getting involved in networking, but you’re not sure where to start, here are some ideas.
Social media
In the digital world we live in, networking via social media platforms, which is known as ‘social networking’, has become a popular way for businesses to connect. There are several platforms that are designed specifically for businesses. With newsfeeds and discussion forums, they are a great way to chat with like-minded people in your industry, share knowledge, promote your business and stay up to date with the latest developments. Social networking can also allow you to expand your networks beyond your local area and connect with people all over the world.
Host a meet and greet
Rather than looking for networking opportunities, why not host your own event? Hosting a meet and greet at your business is a great way to connect with other local business owners who are also looking for ways to network and to grow your own customer base.
Ask your attendees to bring information about their businesses. Prepare booklets with information about your business and the products or services that you offer, which you can distribute. You might also want to hand out goodie bags with free samples or coupons for your business.
Conferences and other events
Conferences and other events, such as trade shows, breakfasts, seminars, lectures and lunches, provide some of the best opportunities to meet other business people like yourself. Websites such as Eventbrite and Meetup.com, your local chamber of industry and commerce, newspapers or business and trade magazines are all good places to search for events that you might like to attend.
Join organisations
You could join an industry-specific organisation or a small business association, such as the Small Business Association of Australia. You may need to pay a fee to join these organisations, but they host regular networking events and provide a range of other support to businesses.
Speed networking
Based on the concept of speed dating, the goal at speed networking events is to make as many connections as you can in the shortest possible time. It might be a good option if you’re shy and find it difficult to mingle at other networking events. However, the disadvantage is that it can be more difficult to make meaningful connections. If it doesn’t sound like your thing, there are numerous other networking groups where you can meet people from a wide range of small to medium-sized businesses. Have a look on a website like meetup.com to find an event in your local area.
Make business contacts
If you simply don’t have the time (or interest) to attend events, focus on building solid relationships with just three or four key people. Try to find people who are facing similar challenges and find ways that you can help each other.
Networking tips
Many people can’t think of anything worse than making small talk with complete strangers. But networking doesn’t have to be a painful experience if you take the right approach. Here are some tips to help you ace your next networking event.
Have the right attitude
To make your networking endeavours a success, it’s important to start with the right attitude. You shouldn’t view it as an opportunity to sell your business at any cost or merely to get something from the other person. The goal is to build relationships. When you meet someone at a networking event for the first time, focus on learning something about them beyond the superficial level and try to find common interests, goals or customers. See if you can find areas where you can both help each other.
As in any relationship, it’s about give and take. Ask yourself what you can offer other people, as well as what they can give you. For example, think about useful resources you’ve found or a training seminar you attended, which could be beneficial for the other person.
If it seems like they will be a useful contact, give them your business card and ask for theirs to make it easier to follow up later.
Get ready to mingle
The key to successful networking is to speak with people for just the right amount of time. You want to make several key contacts. So, it’s best to avoid talking to one person for the entire time. But it’s also important to spend enough time with each person to have a productive conversation. This means that you’ll need to be ready to politely end the conversation and move on to the next person.
Follow up
As successful as your initial conversation may have been, all the effort will be wasted if you don’t follow up with the person afterwards. Business people often complain that networking events are unsuccessful because they don’t get any substantial leads out of them. This is often because they don’t put in the time and effort to follow up with their new contacts and build the newly formed relationship.
So that they don’t forget about you, aim to make contact again within around 48 hours. You could send them a message on social media, an email, or perhaps even a thank-you note with your business card and a sample of your product. Emphasise that you enjoyed meeting them, and link back to your discussion with a question or extra information about something you discussed.
Keep the conversation light and steer clear of any hard sell until you have established a relationship. You might want to suggest another meeting. If you do meet up again, don’t focus on what you need or want to gain from your new contact. Focus on how you can help them. This will create a good impression, and it’s likely that they will return the favour at some point.
Consistency is key
You can’t expect to have the perfect physique after one workout. Similarly, you can’t expect to have built a strong network after attending one networking event. The key to successful networking is consistency. Some events will undoubtedly be more useful than others, but it’s important to keep trying different things. Consider putting all of the networking events that you would like to attend in a calendar and score them afterwards based on how useful they were. This will help you work out which networking events are most beneficial for your business.
Networking is crucial for the success of your growing business. It is the key to unlocking opportunities, finding new partners, getting your brand known and keeping up with the latest trends. In the competitive world of business, it’s not what you know, but who you know. A strong network can be the difference between a business that makes it and one that doesn’t.
