Business Networking for Entrepreneurs

Here are some tips to help you improve your networking skills and extend your network. We all have little time and lots of people put networking on the bottom of their to-do list.  That is a mistake. Sales are developed through the relationships we create. Networking is a great opportunity to grow your contact list. Develop a relationship and let the referrals come to you.

Have you ever attended a networking event, collected business cards and the next day, you can not remember who is who? You don't want to be one of those that other people can't remember, do you?

Follow-up is the key to successful marketing. Meeting someone once is rarely enough to bring you business. You always want to follow up with prospective customers, but you should also follow up with potential referral sources. But most of all, become a member of a networking group like the Long Island Entrepreneurs, http://www.meetup.com/LongIslandEntrepreneur.

The key to results is not what goes on at a networking event. It's what goes on after an event in developing your quality business relationships," said seminar leader Francisco J. Acosta, executive vice president and director of sales and marketing, Internal Business Consulting (http://www.ibcglobal.net/), a credit card processing business. "The key word in successful networking is work."

The first impression

Within the first few seconds, people judge you. There is no chance to make a second first impression. Networking is not just about meeting new people but mostly about having them remember you.  

Some useful sites and newsletters:

Ecademy.com is certainly one of the largest online business networks. And my personal favorite is Ryze.com.

BNI is one of the oldest and certainly the world's largest business networking and referral organization. Over 2,700 chapters around the world offer their members an environment in which to develop personal relationships with other, non-competing businesspeople.

This free monthly newsletter, www.NetworkMoves.com, includes interviews with top networkers, networking group spotlights, and networking tips.

"The Net Effect" (www.EffectiveNetworking.com), a free networking newsletter covers diverse and creative topics as "What Dogs Can Teach Us About Networking", "What I Learned at MIT Charm School", "Holiday Party Networking Techniques", and "The Rolling Stones Know How to Network, Do You?".

Susan Roane of "How to Work a Room" (www.SusanRoane.com), offers more than twenty free articles and tips on networking, with a particular emphasis on the social skills - how to converse with contentious people, mingling, schmoozing, and how to avoid being a sleaze.

Donna Fisher, "Power Networking", "People Power", "Professional Networking for Dummies", (www.DonnaFisher.com), offers full articles and excerpts on networking, word-of-mouth marketing, and breaking out of your comfort zone.

Use these to improve your networking skills and find out how powerful networking really is.