Business networking
It is critical in business or in your profession to build relationships, build a network or community, and have support for your goals. It is important to have resources to help avoid isolation, make connections, brainstorm ideas, and get the joy of helping others.
“Business networking is leveraging your business and personal connections to bring you a regular supply of new business. It involves relationship building.”Business networking is an increasingly popular concept in South Africa. It is all about creating work-related connections - and understanding how those connections meet one-another. These connections provide us with the ability to better do our jobs by helping us find new clients, identify best practices or market intelligence, keeping us abreast of developments in our marketplaces, find new employees or partners, etc.
Business networking is not:
• Dropping your card in a prize bowl at your favorite restaurant hoping to win a free meal
• Handing out your business card to anyone who will accept it
• Creating a list of people to call on in hopes of selling to them
• Putting everyone who has given you a card on your electronic newsletter e-mail distribution list without a follow up program
• Tacking your card on the bulletin board at your local retailer
• Introducing yourself or being introduced to another person and not exploring a business relationship
• Prospecting to get personal leads
Business networking is:
• Developing mutually beneficial win-win relationship with others
• Giving, pure and simple!
• Relationship building with the intent to eventually share referrals
• Promoting you and your good reputation
• Building quality business relationships where there is ease, comfort, reliability and respect
• Serving others without expecting anything in return
• Being confident that the same people you are serving or others will serve you in return
At the end of the day, it is not who you know, it is who knows you.
The benefits of business networks
• In order to generate new business it's essential to market your business and certainly this can be a very costly business. Advertising is seriously expensive; networking is very inexpensive.
• Business networking is very powerful - it's fundamentally about the act of referring business to people that you have grown to know, like and trust, and for them to do the same for you.
• Up to 70% of new business that your company gets is through word of mouth. Networking allows you to formally explain what your business is about and as your fellow networking business people get to know you so you will naturally start to win new leads because people like to pass business to people that they know.
• Simply attending a networking event will raise your profile especially if you network on a regular basis: recognition and repetition, attending a regular networking event achieves this.
• Not only do you have the opportunity to present your business, you also get to meet with a lot of business people from other walks of life that will inevitably be able to help solve some of your problems.
• If there's no one in your network who can help, the chances are that someone knows someone who can and will recommend them. Suddenly you find that your business is moving forward at a much more rapid pace. Your confidence will soar!
Inspiringwomen is now offering exclusive area opportunities to own and run your own Inspiringwomen Business Network. Earn extra income on a part time basis by operating this business model alongside your primary business.
If you are interested to find out more about this opportunity, please contact us by email:
Please tell us in your email where you are based and what area or territory is of interest to you. Please also advise us of your daytime telephone number.
