Whether you are self-employed or working for a company, networking is one of the critical skills you need in the work environment. Your network can help you quickly respond to work changes (e.g. downsizing, client loss) by putting you in touch with new contacts and opportunities. Here are 10 networking tips to keep in mind.
Research Your Target. Before you sit down, get the lowdown the other guy. Go to the company Web site, check the Internet to get general business information.
Practice active listening. You’ll captivate the talker by speaking less. The majority of people enjoy talking about themselves. They’ll enjoy the conversation so much they won’t notice you have networking tips and etiquette hardly spoken.
People in social networking groups are there to network socially. They didn’t come to hear about your infoproduct or eBook or podcast or video or software tools or your great new money-making system. They didn’t come to be advertised to, and they resent it.
Keep in mind when someone gives software defined networking you a lead that someone is most likely giving your potential customer feed back. So that potential customer will have your name, and know when the lead was given to you.
Consistency: It is necessary to be consistent through the different networks by adding the same information and profile picture when using similar IDs.
Join your local Chamber of Commerce, get involved in community events and activities, expand into surrounding communities! Pass out flyers, get business cards made up and hand them out to everyone you meet, talk to everyone you possibly can about your business.
Apply these business networking techniques and you stand a real chance of developing your business in a way that you feel comfortable; in fact, you might even start to enjoy it!