Succeed in Your Business with Networking
I’ve spoken about this topic in the past but want to share it with you again because to succeed in any business, one of the key components needed is networking.
Networking within in your circle of friends is a way to begin. If you are simply beginning a business, this group is the obvious group to network with. Sharing your business with your family and friends is important. They also have their own network of friends that they can share your business with and the cycle will begin. Networking is a simple process and one that believe it or not many neglect.
To succeed in any business networking is essential and much faster then if you are doing it all alone. Now that you have shared your business with your immediate network of family and friends you will need to move out to your business network. The business network is one that can actually multiply your sales without having to actually have them on your payroll. A business network is a group of like-minded individuals that are all working towards a common goal. The common goal in this case is improving each other’s businesses.
Your business network is not simply used to promote your business or products. This group is also available to brainstorm or for needed advice. You will find that many in your business network have experienced what you may be experiencing and can help guide you in the right direction. A business network should be complimentary to your business. The last thing you want is to have someone within your network competing for the same customers. Finding individuals that will compliment your business will work nicely when developing your circle of influence. Each individual’s services can greatly help in increasing sales for each other and in building a great referral source.
So as you can tell, building a network will be essential to the success of your business. You will succeed and those involved in the network will succeed as well. You may come across a customer with individual problems that will require individual solutions. In the past you may have had to refer this customer elsewhere because you, yourself could not help them with their needs. But with a a network you will be able to refer this customer within your group, which will not only benefit your group but keeping the customer happy as well. A network is a great way to increase your customer base without costing you anything more than reciprocity.
I address this in much more detail in this DVD where I addressed a ’live’ audience on the power of online and offline networking!! It’s a gift for you — for the cost of shipping & handling only!
Click here to check it out!
Hi Carrie,
Great blog post! Networking has gotten both easier and harder with all of the online tools available like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc… and directly with customers through online collaboration tools. More than ever before we can easily connect with large, diverse (culturally, geographically, age, industry…) groups of people.
However, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the “signal from the noise” – we can’t spend 100% of our time communicating and some relationships can have more influence and provide more opportunity than others.
That’s why we use Network Hippo (http://www.networkhippo.com) – an online small business and home business contact and sales management system that connects to all of your communication platforms – email, social networking sites, calendar – and provides feedback on high opportunity contacts in your network.
I think your readers could really benefit from this kind of service.
Great post! Thanks.