The best way to build your network

Opportunities to network face to face arise in all sorts of places. There are formal/specific business networking events in most cities and even  in more rural areas.  You may be a member of a special interest group or club – eg sports, arts and performance. Many educational institutions and-  increasingly employers – have thriving alumni groups. Parents will find that events for their children bring them into contact with other parents regularly.  Add to this learning events – eg training courses whether in-house or open to all, conferences, part time programmes over time. These suggestions only really scratch the surface.

With the addition of online networks the opportunity to meet people and develop relationships  – business and personal - have never been greater. 

The bottom line though is not what kind of event you attend  – it is what you do when you do meet people.

All of my working life I have networked widely. Not that I called it that. For me networking is about getting to know people – sharing information and stories. Business opportunities  appear in those conversations.   

There is not only one way to do this though. A few years ago I was finishing my day at work and heading off to an event at a local art gallery hosted by a client a colleague at the time said  “you would turn up at the opening of an envelope.”   Where I saw the value to our business in supporting our client and meeting their other contacts  – she saw canapes and wine and missing her favourite TV programme. This is not to say that she was wrong and I was right – just that we had different views on what to do about building our business networks. She was particularly good at getting to know individual clients on a one to one basis and as a result retained clients for many years fending off competition – which was immensely valuable. Making new contacts ( and potential clients ) was left to people like me.

Over the past few weeks I have been the speaker at Athena Network events here in Edinburgh on the topic of social networking for business. We will be running follow up workshops over the next couple of months the aim of which will be to support attendees to work out how to apply the tools available to support their current business strategy. For some that will be to develop deep one to one relationships for others it will be to look at “who knows who” in their current contacts. Of course there might be some geographical barriers to face to face meetings with people you meet online. Skype  can be helpful to  get past that.

Regardless  of the methods, events or tools you use to build a network though it is important to keep in mind that

We like people who will listen to us and are interested in what we have to say

and

We tend to do business with people we like

So to help you  build lasting and meaningful business relationships and develop your networks  here are some suggestions 

• always focus on the person you are speaking to and what they have to say  ie don’t look over their shoulder to see who else is about
• wait for the right time to tell them about yourself and your business - a conversation is a 2 way thing. Anything else is just a broadcast ( this is especially important online)
• use chat  about family, holidays, favourite books ( aka small talk) to help you find out  what you have in common as openers to future conversations
• allow time for trust in the relationship to build – you may get more by doing that than you ever imagined
• always take the opportunity to introduce people you know to each other if you think they have something in common and might be able to work together - you will be remembered for your generosity
• don’t forget the people you met years ago – even more so now with new online networks – they might just be the best lead to business you ever had!

What do you think?