Networking Is An Important Key To Success

January 9, 2017 Marketing

Most businesses require customers in order to earn money, and while advertising is an obvious means to an end, networking, for some businesses, can be the real key to success. Online networking is a great added tool, but in-person networking is still a tried and true form of business building.

Networking Is An Important Key To Success

Selling has always been known as a numbers game, but what does that mean? Simply that the more people you reach the better are your odds of getting a sale. When a department store sends out 500,000 sale flyers to random addresses, with a discount coupon, they don’t expect that 500,000 people will come to their store and redeem the coupon. Only perhaps 25,000 will use of coupon, and of those 25,000 some of the coupons may have been given to family and friends to use and not the actual recipient of the ad came to the store and used the coupon. So the store sends out 500,000 sale flyers hoping a percentage of the people will use the coupon or give it to someone else to use. So for this example of a “numbers game” the store got 5% of the people they contacted with their sale flyer.

What does this mean for a small business? That if an entrepreneur only talks to 10 people, the odds are very small of getting a customer and a sale.

Now if the department store sends the same sale flyer to only their customers, the number of coupons used should increase.

For an entrepreneur, contacting people already interested in their type of product should increase the odds for getting sales.

With that all said, it is still a numbers game and an entrepreneur should pay attention to all of the numbers. Focusing on the best possible customers, but reaching out to anyone and everyone. How? Networking! Advertising, yes, of course, but never overlook networking.

Networking Is About Connecting With People

Have you noticed that the people who succeed are often people who put themselves out there, they stop and say hello, they shake your hand, they learn your name, they join clubs and organizations, many are also giving people who lend a helping hand. Not all, of course, some people succeed by brute force, but look around at the average successful business person and notice who they are and what they are doing to succeed.

Networking isn’t just about business connections, it is about being personable with everyone, never showing a bad mood, always being kind (even with a surly store clerk) and sharing who you are and what you do. Say you have that department store coupon mentioned above, and you go to the store and buy something, well give the store clerk your business card and say a brief message, “Thanks! By the way here is my card. I sell beauty products for XYZ company, and I live in this area. Call me and I’ll send you a catalog. Thanks.”

Will the clerk ever call you, maybe not, but perhaps the clerk’s mom loves your brand and has been looking for someone in the area to buy from. But this much is certain, if you never give the clerk your card, they will certainly never call you. One store clerk is not much towards your “numbers”, but one card a day is 365 cards in a year, and hopefully a few of those 365 will be serendipity contacts, as referred to in the video below.

List of Networking Connection Ideas: Local Groups & Local Events

Chamber of Commerce – Remember to check with your local Chamber of Commerce for local events.

City Pedia – Search Directory.

Craigslist – Search for local event.

EventBrite – Event directory.

Eventful – Event directory.

Facebook – More and more local groups are springing up on Facebook. Find some that interest you.

Fairs and Festivals – Remember fun events can also be great for networking.

Lanyrd – Event directory.

Lean In Circles – Form local groups to learn and share.

LinkedIn – Business networking website.

Meetup – Meet people, both business and personal interest, and share who you are and what you do.

NetParty – Groups around the country.

Twitter – Search “event” with a hashtag for the place name, such as: #Dallas.
Create your own Twitter event with services such as: TwtVite.

UpSocialNetwork – The Great State of Texas.

When – Search something like: “events in dallas texas”.

Yelp – Search for events by location.

This website is primarily for USA, but if you are in other countries reading this, check out your own sources, such as SimplyNetworking, 4Networking, and Find Networking Events in the UK.

Additional Sources

Evite – Is the leading digital invitation and social event planning service. 

PunchBowl – Free online invitations and digital greeting cards from your phone, tablet or desktop.

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