You may wonder how networking plays a role in business expansion. When you network, you can meet people from the relevant industry, share knowledge, collaborate, gain access to the resources you need, and finally, make fruitful relationships with people and businesses.
Remember that your expertise and who you know are equally crucial in the business. Therefore, networking is an essential skill every entrepreneur has to learn, especially for small business owners.
This article examines how networking can be beneficial for expanding your small business. Before we go into the details, we have to comprehend the concept.
Effective Networking in business
Maintaining and fostering meaningful relationships with industry experts, businesses, and customers is the practice. You can compile a list that lets you stay in contact to share valuable findings, keep up-to-date with industry trends, and accomplish your business goals.
Why is networking vital for expanding your small business?
It will present you with opportunities that you would not otherwise receive. For instance, from the connections you have established, you may come to know of a new sales strategy to improve sales volume. Furthermore, you may also receive valuable insights into your competitor’s marketing strategy, advice to grow your business and achieve business goals.
Here are other key benefits of effective networking;
- Generating convertible leads: you can identify genuine sales opportunities while networking. That will be highly beneficial for small companies specializing in B2B, as references play a crucial role in the sector.
- Up-to-date with the industry trends: while collaborating with businesses in the same industry, you get to familiarize yourself with the prevailing and best practices. So you can adopt them in your business to enhance business operations.
- Brand visibility: you get to meet professionals and other business owners. You can introduce your business to them. Hence, you can enhance your brand’s visibility.
Now let us discuss some of the strategies for effective networking to grow your small business.
1. Define your networking objectives
Before you begin, you should have a clear agenda for networking. For instance, whether you want to expand your clientele, collaborate with other businesses, or be on the lookout for a mentor.
If you have clarity of objective, it becomes effortless to establish genuine connections with businesses, professionals, and individuals. Furthermore, that ensures you make network connections aligning with your business goals.
Remember that while networking as a business owner, you are likely to encounter people from varying backgrounds, interests, and people with a vision. Irrespective of your business goals, you will find individuals who share the same passion. They also want to expand their network.
2. Preparation matters
Before you begin networking, you have to make the necessary preparations. For instance, if you are about to attend an online or an in-person meeting, you have to determine why you are attending the event or meeting. When you know clearly who you want to meet and the outcome, the interaction can produce. It will help you manage your time efficiently while networking.
However, preparation does not necessarily mean that you should practice everything in advance. For instance, what you will say while meeting the person, and you will present yourself. Instead, preparation means you do not move away from your original goal.
While networking, it is all about how you present yourself to others- for instance, the first impressions and how you articulate. So you have to research who will attend the event and the organization they represent. Doing so will enable you to communicate effectively with the people you want to meet and be unique. That will increase the likelihood of meeting potential clients.
3. Leverage the potential of social media for networking
Social media platforms offer immense networking opportunities and have become an effective tool. LinkedIn and Twitter are the ideal platforms for networking. That is those who want to avoid the stress of in-person meetings or talking before the actual meeting takes place.
You may wonder how to leverage the platforms to network and build connections. You can send direct messages to the people on these platforms or comment below their posts. There is a possibility that the person may stay online to start initial conversations.
That way, you can evade the awkwardness of the first meeting when you meet in person somewhere in the future, as you are already acquainted. Furthermore, social media platforms are great avenues to maintain the existing network that you have created.
If you want a smooth networking experience on social media platforms, you can utilize online meeting scheduling software like Picktime. If they want to schedule in-person or online meetings, the personalized booking page or the widget eases the process. You can integrate them onto your website quickly.
The software sends automated email or SMS reminders to ensure the meeting starts on time. If the meeting is virtual, You can incorporate popular video conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom.
If you have multiple meetings daily, the software’s calendar feature helps you to stay on top of things with a glance. The software lets you create a secure database to store your networking connections.
Here, you can list networking connections based on the business goals that you want to accomplish. As a result, future interactions with your connections are easy.
4. Be a patient listener
It is one of the essential aspects of networking. These days, people tend to talk about their businesses and their profession. They rather not listen. If you want to initiate a conversation, then you have to be a good listener first. That ensures the conversation is highly engaging.
If you fail to listen to the person you are talking to, they tend to lose interest in the conversation. Remember that you may receive another opportunity to speak with them.
Before you start a conversation, you can try to ask a few questions unrelated to work. For instance, where they are from, their interests or hobbies. Meanwhile, you have to ensure that your questions are not so personal.
Sometimes, you may get carried away by explaining the products or services of your business. So you forget to listen to the person in front of you. That is the reason asking questions unrelated to work is the practice of starting a conversation, which will help you to make meaningful connections while networking.
In conclusion, the art of effective networking lies in defining your networking goals, preparing for events, harnessing the potential of social media, and finally, listening carefully to others.
