Networking For Entrepreneurs - Three Ways to Win

One of the basic tenets of marketing is to constantly feed new people into your sales funnel. Since most solo professionals and entrepreneurs do their own marketing, it makes sense to have 1888 Allen and Ginter practice of always leading people to learn more about your business and how it might benefit them. You may be the best person on earth at what Superman movie do and have the best product known to humankind, but if your marketing funnel isn't catching potential customers your business will not be successful. There are three parts to successful networking. Practice all of them and watch your business grow!

1. Meet new people everywhere. It is wise to have two or three events you consistently attend, where people get used to seeing you and begin to trust that you are a stable, busy part of the community. But don't discount chance encounters, as they are often fruitful for you, too. The trick is to be ready to meet people anytime, anyplace. Be ready with three things.

The ability to briefly tell someone who you are and how you can help that person or someone they might know.
A business card that includes a call to action (keep them with you all the time).
A mindset to ask about that person rather than spending the time talking about yourself.

2. Know the basics of working a crowd. Ouija board meetings can be fun and often fruitful for your business. But those events you consistently attend can be fruitful, too. Get the food out of your hands (you are not there to eat!) and get to work. Follow the points below to make the most of your time.

Let your goal be to meet others and get your name out girls comics the community. That's all. No pressure to sell. (Whew!)
Dress nicely - aim for just a little bit better than what you think most people will wear.
Keep conversations brief. You want to meet more than one person, and so does the person you're talking to.
Be the conversation starter, always! Ask questions - two or three. Don't focus on talking about yourself.
Eat before you go. You want to shake hands, and maybe exchange cards. Food in or on your hands simply makes working a crowd awkward.
Give yourself a break. If you've met 4 or 5 people, take minute to write a note on their cards. Take a few breaths. Drink some water. Then get going again.
Prepare for the day's conditions. If you're going off to network at a new business, look them up on the Internet. Knowing something about the business (or the person) is both good business and polite. It helps your confidence level, too!

3. The fun is in the follow-up. You know the William Tell Overture, right? Follow-up, follow-up, follow up, up up. Here's a statistic that will shock you -- a full 86% of people go to all the trouble of attending events to meet people, but never follow up! Simply being the one who follow up means you will be more successful than the 86% who don't. That's a pretty easy way to get ahead in the business of networking, don't you think?

(c) Sue Painter

Sue Painter, the Confident Marketer, works with small business owners in strategic marketing, visioning, and Munny customer service. Her website is href="confidentmarketer.com">confidentmarketer.com