Business Networking
Build your business with networking
Being a skilled networker will help your business grow in any economy. But in this challenging environment, with money tight and sales hard to come by, networking can be one of your most cost-effective business-development tools.
That’s why we have been sponsoring quarterly networking events, which are receiving rave reviews from a rapidly growing number of participants.
See the column below from a recent issue of Fairfield Citizen.
Absorbing valuable business knowledge, networking
By Steve Gaynes
Posted: 09/25/2009
Earlier this week, I attended a networking breakfast/educational event at the Trumbull Marriott, sponsored by several businesses including The Bank of Fairfield, Bernstein Global Wealth Management, M+K and Brody Wilkinson PC, among others on behalf of the Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport. I enjoyed putting on a suit for a change, leaving my home office and spending a really worthwhile morning.
Both keynote speakers, Terry O’Connor, director of Cardinal Shehan, and Jim Malski, founder of ActionCoach here in Connecticut, were sincere and enthusiastic, energizing the audience of some 70 business owners and other professionals with tips and ideas for being more effective coaches in their businesses and professional environments. “It was very interesting”, to coin a phrase used by Jim Malski, to keep an open mind and learn about how coaching relates to both sports and business.
The event was a low-key networking event, but I still walked away with cards from three potentially useful contacts, who sat at my table. I took away valuable information and ideas from our conversations and I will contact these folks.
After nearly eight years on my own, I am amazed when I attend these kinds of events and see how many individuals I know, as well as how many new people there are for me to meet. I’ve lost count on the number of regular networking meetings and conferences I’ve attended over the years and the valuable contacts I’ve made, but these days, I’m looking for more quality events and more quality leads.
So many people in my regular great network have provided referrals and offered contact names over the years, as well as provided objective, sometimes tough advice, to help me make my own business more successful. Unfortunately, I still haven’t reached that magic level that Jim Malski referred to where I can take a couple of weeks or months off and the business will still be successful. But it’s worth the dream and the aspiration.
Terry O’Connor reminded the audience that great coaches teach and the playing field is their true classroom. And he emphasized that no one is immune from mistakes and losses. His closing mantra was that we all face obstacles, but we have to get past them and keep getting up. People who own their own businesses know that only too well.
And Jim Malski encouraged us to look in the mirror everyday and decide to move forward and not stand still. If we want to build customers, revenue and profitability, only we can make that decision, he added.
His comments hit home for me when he asked how many folks had working business plans. I certainly have lots of excuses, but it’s been awhile since I’ve created an active plan.
I really benefit a great deal from these kinds of networking events, because I can compare the speaker’s perspective to my own and reflect on whether I’m really making any headway as a solo practitioner and selling my business model to customers. What was really enlightening about what Jim Malski had to say was how many different vehicles of marketing we need to use.
Sure, we can rely on referrals, he pointed out, but what about networking and other tools. He asked each of us to think about the 10 other things we do to build customer networks. I have to admit I was at a loss, but he really got me thinking.
Malski reiterated the importance of thank you notes — so easy and so quick to write — to show a customer how valuable he or she is. He explained that a thank you is so simple and its impact can make or break a customer relationship.
O’Connor challenged the audience to stop building piles of business cards and follow up with people after every networking meeting. I couldn’t agree more and arrived home with the intent of taking the three cards I acquired along with the two large stacks of cards I’ve been keeping in a side drawer and at least sending a
“Hello, how are you, we met at________” e-mail. At least, that is a first step.
I am also going to do more “leveraging,” a term that Malski used in the seminar, to build interest and profitability for my business. I’ve had very good luck with Linked in as a business networking tool, but there are other ways to leverage also.
Most importantly, I left the conference today, resolved to get past business obstacles and maintain a more aggressive and positive attitude about my networking efforts. I was already starting to think in different directions about how I network and how I sell my business.
I chuckled as I focused on one of Jim Malski’s questions — “How many of you attend networking functions and don’t network, but just talk to friends and colleagues?” The instances have been rare, but I have done that. I’ll need to do some work to cure that problem and get even better about working a room.
Meanwhile, I looked at my watch and realized that it was already 11 a.m. and I still had a full-day of networking for business and professional reasons ahead of me. After a few short conversations with one of my clients and several networking colleagues, I skipped that look in the mirror and left to face the unknown and exhilarating world of potential new business.
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