Appreciating the importance of networking
Recently I attended a SMART 90 day networking event run by Networking World.
Whilst I fully appreciate the importance of networking to make contacts and grow my business, I learnt a few wise tips that are essential for successful networking. And the one tip that resonates most with me is to approach a networking event with the goal of not finding sales or customers, but to connect with other business owners in order to create win:win alliances and mutually beneficial relationships.
Like many people, I hate being blatanty sold to – it’s such a turn off. I prefer to meet people who genuinely want to find out about me and my business and discuss ways we can perhaps help each other. Out of a room of 100 people, most of them will not be relevant to your business but you only need to connect with one or two to form a potential strategic alliance with that could generate plenty of leads for your business.
A booklet I was given at the event listed seven questions to help business owners identify the right people to help them achieve their business objectives.
The question that applies to my business asks “Who are the businesses in your supply chain?” I work in partnership with graphic designers – without their skills I cannot create a website or brochure or any other type of design work. At the same, these designers may have clients that need help writing content for the design work they are doing for them. This is an example of one type of strategic alliance that achieves a win:win situation for both parties.
I had a meeting this week with a printing and graphic design company called Worldwide online printing. It was an interesting and useful meeting that could result in some mutually beneficial business. One positive outcome to the meeting is that I found out about another networking event that the franchise owner invited me to which could be productive for my business. So not only did I do some good networking with the printing business, they’ve put me in touch with another networking opportunity. Another win:win situation!
If you’d like to find out more about how to form SMART networking partnerships, visit the Networking World website.