Business Networking 101

There are different kinds of networking, and though time consumeing, I think every business professional should engage in all of them.

Not every networking opportunity, but the very best of each of the different networking types.  Yes, there are different types of networking — both on line and off.  There are professional networking opportunities and there are social networking opportunities.

Professional networking opportunities would include:

• On Line Opportunities
  • www.linkedin.com  An excellent professional networking site, with both free and paid services available.  This is my primary (professional) on line networking source; if you are part of Linked In or eventually join, I would be honored if you invited me to join your network.
  • www.facebook.com  I consider this much more of a personal or socal networking opportunity, but a large number of business professionals do use this as part of their professional networking.
  • www.xing.com  While a number of professionals use this networking site, I just couldn’t get excited about it and so never use it.
• Off Line
  • Chamber of Commerce social events.  Excellent opportunity to meet and greet individuals from a broad spectrum of your business community.
    • Also, in larger cities there may be independent area business groups that focus on business just in their specific area of town.
  • Attending Trade Shows.  Attend trade shows in your industry; you find out what’s new and different, as well as having the opportunity to find out how others are dealing with the same problems you are.  Not attending because you “have seen it all before” is a grave mistake.  While there may be repeats there is also a lot of new products and information out there that should be investigated and explored.
  • Exhibit at Trade Shows in the industry you service.  It is an excellent way to find out what is on your customers mind, and to learn how you can improve your product or service.  Give an educational seminar if that ability is offered by the event coordinator.
  • Join a networking group.  Most communities have groups that are comprised of salespeople from different industries that meet on a regular basis for sharing leads.  Typically, they only allow one representative from an industry so that there is never any competition between members.  Also, some groups meet weekly and others monthly; some meet for breakfast, and some for lunch.  (I prefer lunch since the morning groups are often meeting at 6:00 A.M., and that’s just too early for me.)
  • There are also a number of organizations that offer social as well as business marketing opportunities such as the Rotary, Optimist Club, and the like.  These allow you to help your community as well as meet other business professionals.  When joining one of these groups be sure to join one that focuses on a cause you will whole heartedly support.   People won’t utilize your services if they feel you are just there to network and not supporting the cause.

There are probably more business and professional networking opportunities, and if you think of them please post a comment mentioning them.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, there are also a lot of social networking opportunities for people to be involved in as well.  I’ll address those opportunites in a future post.

That’s my 2 cents