Friday, September 20, 2013

Successful Business Networking - It Is Not All about You

By Chelsea Grace


Business networking events are a great way to build your contacts and increase your business. However , you want to be very sure to do rather more than just show up if you'd like to get the best out of them. Here are a few straightforward ideas to help get more from the business networking events you attend.

Firstly, you should be genuine and fair about your business. People respect honesty and genuineness, and you will gain their trust if you have these qualities. If you do not, others will pick up on it and be less ready to do business with you. Some people appear to have the mentality that truth and sales aren't entirely compatible. This is a very short sighted mindset. Business is all about building trust and relations. You can't do that successfully ultimately without honesty.

When you are meeting others at networking events, you should first focus on how you can help them. Take the time to hear them and understand their business. Try to think of ways in which you can give them referrals, rather than thinking about how they can bring you new business. If you help them build their business, you'll earn their trust and they'll feel forced to return the favor. If you first focus on what they can do for you, they will sense that and be less willing to conduct business with you or refer you to others. There's a very simple principle that whatever goes around comes round. If you do great things for others, great things will come to you.

When you meet contacts at a networking event, be totally sure to put down things about them and their business.They will see you are making the effort to realise them, and this info will be really useful to you later. Remember, you wish to focus on how to refer them business, so you must be able to remember details about them after the networking event is over. An easy tip is to write on the back of their business card. That way you don't lose the information.

After the networking event is over, be totally sure to follow up quickly with your new contacts. Sometimes a fast e-mail will do the trick, and the individual you are contacting will feel grateful you took the time to chase up. Be sure to add some detail about them when you write the email. If you found out something engaging about them or their business in your conversation, make a brief mention of it. Simultaneously, you want to keep the e-mail short and straight to the point, so that it's not a burden to read. Their schedule is probably extremely busy like yours, and you need to respect their time.

I n short, to become known as a top networker, it is critical to be polite and think of how to assist others. If you live by this principle, you will develop solid relationships and others will naturally need to refer business to you.




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