Is Your Networking Working?
By Audrey Burton
Small business owners attend networking events to get clients. Much of the time, it doesn’t work the way they anticipated, and they often give up before really determining why it didn’t work. They move to a different group and are destined to repeat the same mistakes.
First of all, let’s talk about networking basics. In order to get the maximum bang for your networking buck, join a group where your target market gathers and keep showing up. That means to go to every event you can possibly attend over and over so you can build relationships with the other members and they grow to trust you. You are not just looking to get clients directly from the group though; you want them to refer others to you, so that relationship is very important. Also, you need to stick with it for at least several months (depending on the frequency of the meetings), bringing the same consistent message. (more…)