How To Be A Master At Networking

I cannot stress how important networking is, particularly when it comes to business. Networking is your single best marketing strategy, your chance to check out the competition, an opportunity to meet influential clients and potential partners, and to introduce your business, and its services, to your community. Without networking you may as well be sitting quietly in the corner refusing to interact with anyone as business passes you by. With networking, however, you’re proudly introducing yourself to the world, and giving others the chance to get to know you. If you’re the kind of person that hates standing up in front of people the idea of networking may send shivers down your spine; fear not, though, and read on for some top networking tips that will not only ensure you’re in your comfort zone, but help you to excel in something you’d previously dreaded…

How To Be A Master At Networking

Networking? Here's how to become a master at it. Click To Tweet

Start a little closer to home

Yes, networking is about going to trade events, conferences, and lunches, and will involve meeting new people. However, networking is also about cultivating the relationships you have already, using them to your business’s advantages, and establishing a profitable bond. Take a long, hard look at your current contact list and decide whom you’d like to be closer to. The next step is to make that happen.

Forget closed questions

Networking is a little like interviewing somebody for a new job, except neither of you is really in control of the dialogue; you’re both sounding each other out. For this reason it’s important not to approach a new contact with a conversation that can be finished with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer; ask them open-ended questions about their business and what they do, and actually listen to their answer. You never know whom you’ll meet by taking the time to listen.

Get to know the guest list, and yourself

You’ll never be a master networker until you know what it is you’d like to take away from that meeting or business event; are you hoping to build overseas relationships, scout for an investor, or meet your new IT manager? Networking is about realising your goals, so make sure you’ve established them. Similarly, don’t just leave it to chance that you’ll bump into the right people. Check out the guest list in advance of the event, do your own research, and make a mental note of the people you’d like to speak to. There may not be time to speak to everybody, after all.

How can you help them?

Yes, networking involves meeting new people and working out how they can help you, but how often do you take the time to establish how you can help them in return? Networking is one of those proverbial two-way streets, and so don’t discard a contact just because they can’t be of immediate use to your company. Could you help them in the meantime? Just remember that helpfulness breeds helpfulness, and that one contact could soon become three or four…

Follow up

The most important thing to remember about networking is that it doesn’t begin an end with one event, a single social media post, or an email. Networking is about all of the conversations you’ll have afterwards too, and the moments you may find yourself in need of assistance again. For that reason make sure that, “I’ll be in touch” means just that, and that you check in every now and again. Business relationships must be maintained to be of any use to anyone.

Hopefully the idea of putting yourself out there is less scary now. No one knows your business like you, after all, so it’s up to you to help it to flourish.

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