Be prepared

If you were in the scouts you will recognize the motto 'be prepared'. It's a useful tip in business networking as illustrated by an example this week. At NRG we always have an educational seminar before the Open Networking session and the Networking Lunch. The seminar is aimed at helping attendees learn essential business development skills. It's a great opportunity for members to share their expertise with the group.

The speaker for this week's event in Birmingham had to cancel unexpectedly. Fortunately NRG member Martin Firman was prepared to step in at the last minute. Always be ready for the opportunity to share your skills with an audience. It also happened to me at a breakfast a few weeks ago when the speaker for the education slot didn't show, and I was given the slot.

Does Business Networking really work?

I was at a networking meeting yesterday evening and someone asked me if I thought business networking really worked. I said I was biased, but why had she asked. She explained that the opinion of another contact was that it didn't.

I asked which she thought was the more powerful, telling prospects about yourself or by having someone else that they trust tell them about you. She thought it was by having someone else talking about you....

Strategic Partnerships

Building relationships with others who operate in the same market place as you makes perfect sense as part of your business networking strategy. In fact if you concentrate on those who offer complimentary services to yours then you can open many more opportunities.

I attended an exhibition of companies today that had formalised this arrangement in an alliance to help each other. Someone there told me a great story about a Marketing Consultant and a Sales Consultant who had met at an NRG Lunch. They had built a relationship and just won a £30,000 contract with a joint bid!

PR - An Ecademy Journey

Ecademy are using PR to promote themselves by promoting member success stories. See this link >>>>. One of the often overlooked benefits of business networking is the opportunity for mutual PR.

What do you really do?

My colleague, Martin Davies, delivered our '7 secrets of effective business networking' seminar in Dudley on Friday. One of the points we make is the importance of communicating what you do and who for from the listener's point of view and not yours.

One of the attendees said he had struggled for years to describe what he did at business networking events. As a result of the 7 Secrets Seminar the penny dropped and he understood how to describe what he does in terms of business benefit. Rather than saying “I am an insolvency practitioner” he changed it to “I specialise in helping small businesses who are struggling financially to recover their business”. A clear focus for the audience on his expertise and market.

Strategic Internet Marketing & Business Networking

Internet Psychologist, Graham Jones, delivered a great seminar before the NRG Networking Lunch at London Charing Cross on Internet Marketing. In an excellent handout he gave some great advice about online marketing. Part of the strategy he recommends is getting other people talking about you, rather like our strategy for businesss networking. In fact he says:

"Successful companies succeed by word of mouth. That should be central to your Internet Marketing Strategy."

You can contact Graham at this link>>>> if you would like a copy.

Another great example of Advocacy

At a Networking Meeting on Monday one of the attendees was scheduled to do a one minute to the whole group. The week before he had solved an IT problem for another member of the group and she offered to do the one minute for him. She delivered a great endorsement as an advocate of his service.

Much more powerful than him doing it himself!

Growing your business through the power of metaphor

In some recent seminars at NRG Andrea Moffatt has explored the internal and external challenges of growing your business. She specialises in doing that through a medium that is at once so familiar that you don’t even recognise it and may be in danger of dismissing it. It’s the power of story and storytelling.

I was reminded of this at the launch in the UK last night of Roger Hamilton's book, Wink. On the surface the book is a simple story about a 9 year old boy meeting a number of people on a journey. The real story is in the conversations that he engages in that reveal the wealth generation strategies of the characters. Each of the characters has a different profile from Roger's Wealth Dynamics profiling system.

The Power of Advocacy

At NRG Business Networking Events a member gets a 10 minute slot after lunch to present themselves or their business. At the London Selfridge NRG Event last week the scheduled 10 minute presenter, Jon Davey, of Business in Berkshire was unable to attend (sensibly deciding that his heavy cold should keep him away).

In his place NRG member, Richard White, delivered his endorsement of Jon's business from his own experience. A demonstration of advocacy in action and how a message from a 3rd party perspective can be more powerful than your own.

Building your Reputation

You know that most people you meet at Business Networking will not be your customers so it follows that Networking for Advocates rather than customers is a much more effective strategy. One aspect of this strategy is building relationships. Another is finding ways of building your reputation as an expert or leader in your field.

Chris Bose is a great exponent of sharing his knowledge freely when networking as a way of building his reputation. He sometimes does this by speaking at seminars during NRG Business Networking Events. He told me today that he had just received a valuable enquiry via someone who had seen him speak at a seminar a few months ago.

How are you demonstrating your expertise to your Network?