The Value of Networking
Here’s a simple fact:
No matter whether you’re looking for new business opportunities or a new career, your network can be vital to your professional success.
The importance of networking is obvious for someone seeking employment or a job change, but you should not look past what it means even if you are a business owner (or are quite happy doing what you do where you do it).
See, a strong and expansive professional network gives you insights into business trends and enables you to learn and broaden your industry knowledge. You can get new ideas and pick up various tips from colleagues within your network.
Even better, social media makes it easier than ever to hone existing relationships and make new contacts these days.
Networking has never been more essential, so let’s dig a little deeper and really highlight its myriad benefits for you. Then we will explore some of the ways you can realize them.
Here’s a simple fact:
No matter whether you’re looking for new business opportunities or a new career, your network can be vital to your professional success.
The importance of networking is obvious for someone seeking employment or a job change, but you should not look past what it means even if you are a business owner (or are quite happy doing what you do where you do it).
See, a strong and expansive professional network gives you insights into business trends and enables you to learn and broaden your industry knowledge. You can get new ideas and pick up various tips from colleagues within your network.
Even better, social media makes it easier than ever to hone existing relationships and make new contacts these days.
Networking has never been more essential, so let’s dig a little deeper and really highlight its myriad benefits for you. Then we will explore some of the ways you can realize them.
Generate referrals and find new business partners, suppliers, or clientele
The great news is that the referrals you get through networking are usually high quality and most of the time are even pre-qualified for you. You can follow up on these referrals/leads and turn them into clients. So, you are getting much higher quality leads from networking than other forms of marketing.
The increase in business from networking is the major advantage, but there are many others as well.
These will be the elements you should always keep in mind when creating messages and content.
A good exercise for this is also a fun one: choose three words that you want to define your voice.
Uncover new business opportunities
With a motivated group of business owners comes an abundance of opportunities. This is where the benefits of business networking are huge!
Opportunities like joint ventures, client leads, partnerships, speaking and writing opportunities, business or asset sales… the list goes on, and the opportunities within networking are endless.
Just make sure you are jumping on board with the right opportunities and not pursuing every single opportunity that comes your way. The opportunities that you get involved in should align with your business goals and vision. Otherwise, you might find that you are spinning your wheels chasing opportunity after opportunity and getting nowhere.
Uncover new business opportunities
With a motivated group of business owners comes an abundance of opportunities. This is where the benefits of business networking are huge!
Opportunities like joint ventures, client leads, partnerships, speaking and writing opportunities, business or asset sales… the list goes on, and the opportunities within networking are endless.
Just make sure you are jumping on board with the right opportunities and not pursuing every single opportunity that comes your way. The opportunities that you get involved in should align with your business goals and vision. Otherwise, you might find that you are spinning your wheels chasing opportunity after opportunity and getting nowhere.
Create important connections
“It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
This is so true in business. If you want a really successful business, then you must have a great source of relevant connections in your network that you can call on when you need them.
Networking provides you with a great source of connections, and really opens the door to talk to highly influential people that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to easily talk to or find.
It’s not just about who you are networking with directly either—that person will already have a network you can tap into as well. Ask the right questions to find out if the person you are networking with knows who you want to know!
Get advice you actually want
Having like-minded business owners to talk with also gives you the opportunity to get advice from them on all sorts of things related to your business (or even your personal life) and obtaining the work-life balance that can normally seem so elusive.
Networking is a great way to tap into advice and expertise that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get in other ways. Just make sure that, when you do, you are getting solid advice from the right person—someone who knows about what you need to know and is not just giving you their opinion on something they have no or very little experience in.
Raise your social and professional profiles
You can then help build your reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable, and supportive person by offering useful information or tips to people who need it. You are also more likely to get more leads and referrals as you will be the one who pops into their head when they need what you offer.
So hopefully you can see there can be as much value—if not potentially even more—in giving advice than receiving it.
Develop a circle of trust
A successful network must be balanced, meaning you should give at least as much as you take. Along with advice and information, this certainly applies to asking for help within your network.
Remember, if you ask for someone’s help or use a contact to benefit you somehow (like with a recommendation), make sure you are ready to give back when you’re called upon. Doing so helps to develop trust on both sides of your professional relationships.
Link yourself to people whose ethics and reputation you believe in. When you do, the chances are good they feel the same way about you.
Develop a circle of trust
A successful network must be balanced, meaning you should give at least as much as you take. Along with advice and information, this certainly applies to
Remember, if you ask for someone’s help or use a contact to benefit you somehow (like with a recommendation), make sure you are ready to give back when you’re called upon. Doing so helps to develop trust on both sides of your professional relationships.
Link yourself to people whose ethics and reputation you believe in. When you do, the chances are good they feel the same way about you.
Get social to gather valuable opinions and tips
Ask as well as answer questions to create a dialogue and build trust. You never know-one of those conversations could lead to new business opportunities or connections.
Find positive influences and uplifting
It is not enough to just have someone on your email list or have them as a friend on Facebook or a connection on LinkedIn; a true working network requires maintenance.
Fortunately, putting in a little effort can go a long way.
Send your contacts personalized updates every now and again. Be sure to offer up your help whenever you can. And consider meeting for coffee just to catch up and see how the other person is doing.
Also, do not be afraid to ask for help. You have chosen to have these people in your network for a reason. If you would be there for them, odds are really good they’ll be there for you.
Find positive influences and uplifting
It is not enough to just have someone on your email list or have them as a friend on Facebook or a connection on LinkedIn; a true working network requires maintenance.
Fortunately, putting in a little effort can go a long way.
Send your contacts personalized updates every now and again. Be sure to offer up your help whenever you can. And consider meeting for coffee just to catch up and see how the other person is doing.
Also, do not be afraid to ask for help. You have chosen to have these people in your network for a reason. If you would be there for them, odds are really good they’ll be there for you.
It’s all about connecting
Successfully marketing your business in the Internet Age relies on developing and maintaining connections. This is why social media and email marketing need to be integrated into your marketing strategy.
More than that, you need powerful content and videos that offer value for your network. Then, when you promote them through social media channels and email campaigns, your connections will want to share with their other connections. This can lead to a domino effect—but only if your content is worth it!
Make sure your branding is on point and you are offering consummate value for site visitors and professional network connections alike. Not sure what this entails? Don’t worry, we do.
CP Solutions is a marketing agency that wants to take your business to the next level. We’d love it if you joined our network of satisfied clients, so let’s start with a simple, no-obligations call and see what we can accomplish together. You can reach us at (833) 622-0907 or, even better,
© CP Solutions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
VMD Services, LLC. and 2nGage, LLC. are subsidiaries of CP Solutions