What’s the Point in Business Networking?

With successful business networking, you need to consider and on-line (internet based) and off-line strategy. If you want to be found, you need to develop & control your personal profile. The best online location for business professionals has to be LinkedIn and the best off-line method is local/regional networking groups such as Pathway2Grow.

10 Reasons why business people attend business networking events:

• Many business people like meeting new people!

• Most business contacts look for business from a business group/network.

• Knowledgeable business people recognise the need for business networking.

• Small business networking provides added value benefits.

• The associated low costs of joining a business network are economically attractive.

• Many business owners like pitching their services and products to other business
contacts and likewise buying from a referred source.

• Most business contacts see the benefits of attending a contact network event that has 25 + people.

• Many business contacts thrive and exploit the group's business contact opportunities.

• Many business people recognise a face to face meeting is better form of forming a business relationship.

• Most business owners consider attending business networks a good investment in time and recommend this to others!

Business networking is critical for increased business growth

Two thirds (66%) of SMEs are now networking in person at least once a week. Approximately 38% say business networking is crucial to their business success.

Business networking provides impressive returns on investment

• One in 5 SMEs (20%) made £10,000 (approx. $15,000) from networking in the past year.
• Almost half (44%) made more than £1,000 –(approx. $1,500)

Recent published figures revealed that business networking accounted for 79% of all new business sales.

7 Reasons Why Business People Don’t Network

Many business owners are procrastinators & ‘foot-draggers’ when it comes to business networking because:

No perceived need and No desire to join.
Many consider there are a lot of costs and therefore its restrictive.
Many are put off because of the inconvenience of travelling to a venue.
Many have a fear of pitching their services to others.
Most feel attending an event with 25 business people only allows you to speak to 4 or 5 others.
Many exhaust the groups business opportunities quickly and become bored.
Most perceive it to be an time consuming endeavour with no reward.

Remember these 3 most important TIPS to grow your business by networking

Prepare your 'elevator pitch'

30 second to 2 minutes talk to get your main points across very quickly and more memorably.

'Give to get' and 'Givers gain'

Truly help others in achieving their goals and you usually gain most out of the experience – through a reciprocal benefit.

Follow up on leads

Always follow up including by email and also connect on LinkedIn with everyone who you meet.

Networking