5 Networking Tips

Here are 5 business networking tips that may be useful.

Business networking tips brought to you by Cross Networking; Lloyd Morgan was our expert speaker in this video.

To reiterate the points made in the video:

1. Give dont sell
• You should not go to networking events with the mindset of selling your products, as 0% of networkers go to events to buy. 
• Networking is about building relationships with other local businesses, and as you build these new links and develop these relationships, over time these individuals may refer business your way, or even use your services to aid themselves.
2. Dont be nervous
• Everyone is in the same shoes, whether they are experiences networkers or new to business networking.
• Be confident in your product, you never know, you might be the perfect solution to someone elses problems.
3. Business Cards
• Make sure you take business cards everywhere, especially to networking events.
• Try and switch business cards with everyone you speak to; this is a great way of building up a list of contacts you have met at events.
• If youve promised someone a follow up, whether it is a meeting, phonecall or email, make sure you follow up.  Breaking initial promises can damage future relations.
4. Be honest
• Business networking is not only about referrals, it is also about helping other local businesses develop.
• Give people feedback and advice, but be careful not to offend others when doing so.  Their business is very important to them and they will have a great deal of pride in their work, so always tread carefully, but providing useful feedback can play a huge part in developing a good business relationship.
5. Trust
• All business referrals comes down to others trusting you and trusting your product and service. Make sure you are being honest to yourself and ensure your product is up to scratch.  If other people are referring your business to others it can reflect very badly on them if that new customer is unsatisfied with your product or service.

We hope these tips are useful, and try implementing them into your networking strategies going forward.