Essentials for Building Your Network

Networking (both on-line and in-person) is critical to your ability to attract new clients, partners and business opportunities.

Because networking is so important to your accelerated success, we’ve written a series of articles to help you network in an authentic way that is true to your personality, business objectives and life goals.

Let’s get started with an article about building your network.

Essentials for Building Your network

It is not just what you know, but also who you know. As such, a strong network of potential clients and referrals is essential to your accelerated success.

Networking is not just about making small talk at cocktail parties, it is about staying in contact with the people you meet. There are lots of creative and enjoyable ways to connect with fellow professionals and different people in your community. Our goal with this article is to simply expand your perspective to encompass a multi-faceted approach to networking.

Network with Colleagues: The obvious starting place for networking is with your colleagues. Why? Because, colleagues can provide fantastic information about upcoming events, educational opportunities and new clients.

Building solid relationships with your colleagues can result in a fantastic source of referrals for new clients as well great strategic partnerships when you need to refer clients to trusted professionals. As your service business really takes off, you may find yourself with more clients you can handle. Being able to make quality referrals helps to establish your position as a “center of influence” and key “go to” person in your market. When you take time to develop strong relationships with your colleagues, you will reap the benefits in a multitude of ways for many years to come.

Network with Others in Complimentary Industries: Look for opportunities to network with people in different, but complimentary industries. A focus on this aspect of networking will help to widen your “sphere of influence” considerably. Expanding your horizons in this manner will also facilitate a whole new world of business opportunities and referrals. People who are in related industries are an excellent source for giving and receiving referrals.

For example, if you are an attorney and your area of practice is real estate, make time to develop relationships with real estate agents and mortgage brokers. Many buyers often hire attorneys on the recommendation of their brokers or agents.

Networking with Others in Civic Industries: Join different organizations – civic, trade, and professional. This is a great way to start the process of building relationships in a congenial and social atmosphere with people in industries completely different from your industry. Consider joining the Chamber of Commerce and organizations geared specifically towards women and minorities (if appropriate). Get to know lots of people in lots of different industries. The more people who know about you, the more business opportunities you will encounter.

Have FUN!! ~ Make sure to incorporate fun into your networking activities. Consider joining hobby clubs centered around activities you enjoy. There are meet-up groups for just about every hobby under the sun. Check out Meet-Up.com for more information about such clubs. You never know who might turn into a potential client – and you’ll have fun and make friends in the process of building relationships.

We would to know what what you think about this article! Feel free to leave a comment!

Always ~ Live with Passion!

Coach T.C.

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