Effective Business Networking: Making it Work for You

How do you feel about networking?

John wasn’t sure at all. He’d recently left his agency job to become a marketing consultant. Through a long and successful career, he’d gained experience and training in skills across the marketing landscape; he enjoyed working in marketing and had a great portfolio behind him.

Having seen others follow the same path, John was optimistic about going it alone and had been encouraged to start networking. He was told that by going out and meeting other business owners, he’d find the people who needed his help.

John tried networking in a few ways:

In Person Groups

• At a relaxed meeting with no membership or commitment, John would turn up, pay his money, drink his coffee, and talk to the people in the room.
• At a lockout group with an annual membership. John knew there would be no competition in the room meaning he would become the marketing expert, and with the same members attending each meeting, he’d get to know them all well.
• At a specialist marketing group with opportunities to learn, keep up to date with industry trends, and hear what other people in the industry were experiencing.

Online networking:

• Networking groups similar to those he visited in person but hosted online.
• Business communities offering forums, coworking, and other events.

John couldn’t consistently attend all of these groups, especially as he got busier. Still, he tried to stay involved, knowing how critical these connections with people could be to his business. The busier John got, though, the less he participated in the events. He wasn’t taking advantage of the meetings or other events, found he wasn’t really getting to know people particularly well, and wondered if these groups benefitted his business at all.

While John may have had one or two clients from each group, other clients came from past contacts and word-of-mouth referrals, but he knew he needed to build his network to keep his business thriving. When things went quiet, he occasionally dropped back into a meeting but found it difficult to reestablish relationships and often felt frustrated. Why did it feel that networking wasn’t working for him?

Effective Business Networking Goals Are Key

While John was pleased to get work from his existing contacts, he knew he couldn’t rely on them forever. At Your Business Matters, we’ve seen businesses thrive as they grow their connections through networking.

Setting clear networking goals is the first step to understanding whether you are getting any value from networking. I often find that when I speak to people who have “tried networking before, and it didn’t work,” they aren’t clear about what they were hoping to achieve through networking in the first place.

They may have tried networking to “get more clients” but not identified a clear offering, which meant nobody knew how they could help.

Why set goals?

Networking is an investment of time and money; just like any investment in your business, it’s important you review that investment to make sure it is working.

Identifying clear goals means you’re exploring all the possible benefits the networking opportunity offers your business so you can measure its effectiveness.

Align your business and networking goals

I also find that many new business owners haven’t set clear business goals – we discussed business plans and goals in this earlier post. Having a clear picture of your business plan and goals is key because without this, you won’t know:

• What kind of growth you’re hoping for – More customers? Higher value sales? More referral partners? Stronger strategic partnerships?
• How you can achieve that growth – Who you want to reach, how you’ll talk to them.

Hopefully, you can already see that with specific goals of this kind set, you can identify clear networking goals that align.

Potential networking goals

So, what might you be looking for from your networking? What kind of goals might you set?

Expand your network – how much does your audience need to grow?

Right from the word go, it’s important to talk to people and find out how to help them. Whether they seem interested or not, every person you meet knows other people who may be helped by what you offer.

I wouldn’t suggest that this is just about leaving a meeting and adding twenty more LinkedIn connections (although this may be a benefit). It’s also about developing solid relationships through two-way conversations, so you know enough to recommend each other.

At Your Business Matters, we suggest members organise at least one one-to-one outside their monthly meetings; it’s through these deeper conversations that you’ll get to know each other. We talked about this more in our post, Find Small Business Success Through Business Networking with One-to-One Meetings.

John knew that conversations with fellow business owners would allow him to show his expertise and be seen as helpful. They would also help him understand what his potential clients were struggling with so he could develop services to help. He set a goal to have one-to-one conversations with at least two people every month.

Build strategic alliances – who can help you grow?

As well as clients, there will be people in your network who can support your business as strategic partners (we discussed this in our previous post). I always encourage people to consider who might fulfil this role for their business and look for groups where you’ll find them.

John knew potential clients would likely need new websites, so he started looking for web developers at each meeting. These web developers also often talked to business owners who wanted more marketing support. Having met an inspiring business coach, John discovered that coaching clients are often at a point in their business where they need help with their marketing. He also decided he needed some support himself and started working with the coach to develop his own business.

Make sales – because you need money too!

Networking is not about selling to the people in the room but is a great way to make the right sales. You are building a network that will promote you to their contacts, and you can also use this space to develop products and services people need.

John used conversations with his network to identify his perfect client: small service businesses taking on employees for the first time. These businesses needed to increase sales to pay their new employees and understood the value of effective marketing. John created packages to offer these businesses, making it easier for his network to explain how he could help.

The chance to learn – and more

Many networking groups offer other benefits alongside networking. At Your Business Matters, our meetings always offer an element of learning; other groups offer industry updates, social opportunities, or training.

And it’s not just about the formal offering; it’s also about the group itself. Each group of people will be different and offer different things to attendees. You might want an informal group where you can choose who you talk to or something with more structure and focus. You might find a group welcoming and supportive, while others seem more focused on results. It’s key to think about what you need from your group.

John enjoyed the creativity and learning from his marketing group, where he felt he could comfortably ask questions and explore ideas for his business. He also found that the membership group gave him an interested and engaged audience that listened to him and supported him over the time he got to know them. Having decided that one of his goals was continuing personal development, he even found a group which offered that.

Choosing the right networking group

As John found at the beginning of his journey, there are many ways to network. The only way to know what works for you is to try things out. Some groups that other people love may not provide what you need for your business; it’s only by having goals you can review and trying things out yourself that you will know if the group provides what you want. I wrote another blog about this, which gives some tips, Choosing the Right Networking Group for You and Your Business.

Different kinds of networking offer different things; membership groups are great for building strong relationships and learning from others, while drop-in groups can get you in front of a wider group of people. When you’re just starting out in business, networking may be about being seen and creating awareness, while the long-term relationships you build through membership groups will help you develop stronger links, trust and authority. I usually recommend that people do a mixture of both.

Before John considered his networking goals alongside his business goals, he was unsure of the benefits of the groups he’d visited, overwhelmed by the options available, and unwilling to commit time to them. Once he identified how the groups were helping him achieve his goals, he could narrow down which to attend and feel confident in his choice. This commitment meant he could be more consistent, providing huge benefits to himself and the group by helping him build stronger relationships and cement his position in the group.

I regularly meet people who say they’ve struggled with networking; they often feel they should try it but maybe don’t enjoy it or see the benefit when visiting groups.

The barriers are usually:

• a lack of clarity in their goals
• not being in the right group.

If you’re one of these people, consider what you want from networking. If you’re looking for a supportive, professional and focused group to help you grow your business, why not try one of our networking groups to see if there’s anything for you. At Your Business Matters, you’ll meet some incredible business owners and professionals looking for business growth and ready to support their connections. We offer all our members a review of their needs so you won’t only benefit from the relationships you make within your own group but we’ll connect you to people across our whole network. We’d love to hear from you.