Networking skill is most of the important feature, all the professional should have. If you are an owner of a small business, participating in face-to-face networking is very essential for your business growth. Now most of the business owners know about it but still in some circumstance doing this technique can be challenge for some business owners. As nobody wants to put bad impressions and get into pressure of networking, it is very important to know the Dos and Don’ts of business networking. Networking professionals should always be physically as well as mentally prepared before starting business networking.
Here, I am going to discuss the best small business networking tips which not only decreases the pressure of networking but also helps in business growth.
Business Cards:
Business cards are known as one of the best as well as powerful networking tool. It is very important to have professional as well as stand out business card which help others to remember you. If you have a very impressive business card your network will take very less time to reach the peak. One best tip I can suggest is that adding up some bright colors along with your photo on a business card and also the service or product your business deal in can be the best way to attract others.
Be Presentable:
Networking professional should always be well groomed and look professional. Whether your business has a dress code or not you should be ready with the well dressed. Make a list of the service you provide and make it of 30 to 60 seconds summary. When you are describing your business services to others, your description speech should be very short and quick else there may be chance of other to get confused. My best tip is to prepare a list of question and answers that can be asked by the other networking professionals so that you have the answer of all kind of question related to your business services. This tip helps to make a first lasting impression on others, as it is always that the “first impression is the last impression” and also helps on business growth.
Networking Goal:
Most of the networking professional uses the traditional method. While attending small business networking events, they go around and try to talk with as many people as the time allows. As traditional business says that the business information should be shared with as many hands as possible in order to increase the growth of business, which is not true. Unfortunately, this advice is absolutely misguided as the main aim of networking is to build relationship which leads to good trust, one cannot build the relationship if their aim is to talk about themselves and just pass out business cards. People do business and refer to other whom they trust. Networking means making a strong network not only collecting business cards and making presentations , So here my tip for better business networking is , always be genuine, professional and self-sacrificing.
Follow-up:
It is said that “follow-up is the life-blood of networking”. This is last networking tool after you apply all the above tips. You shared business cards, gave impressive presentation about your business, and exchanged business information but if you fail to follow-up, you've wasted your time. To get the optimum results follow-up is very essential. My tip is to follow-up consistently this way you will get remembered by others. Most of the networking professionals fail this step. Make their negative point your plus point.
Business networking is the essential part for the development of small business. Try to implement these tips on your next networking event and I hope these tips will help all the networking professionals to make a lasting impression on others.
Regards
Prakash Bhosale
About Me:-
After completion of MBA in marketing & Finance started career as professor of marketing for few months and moved to Mumbai passion to do something in online marketing & educational entrepreneurship. First started working with leading B2B portal and helped hundreds of SME’s to rake their website on Google with 1000’s of keywords, after that kept working with few other web portals and with Google adwords for three years but ambition of starting on own could not allowed me to keep working with Google as well, finally after leaving Google, e-Branding India Technologies has took birth in 2009. Apart from leading e-Branding India , I also work as project & PhD guide for MBA students of IGNOU, Mumbai , Pune , UK,US etc Universities with team of 9 professors. I am also a Certified Google Adwords Professional by Google Inc.
I live at Miraroad ( east) & my office is at Goregaon (east) in Mumbai city of Republic of India , I also visit Pune 2 times a month. I can meet clients at my Goregaon office for e-marketing & business consultancy business from Monday to Friday. I can meet students on Saturday and Sunday at Miraoard (east) . All meetings will prior to appointment only. For US & UK Students and clients I am available on Skype ( ID- ebrandingindia )
