The importance of business networking

Written by Marc Parham, CAPBuilder Network Group, marcp@capbuildernetwork.com

It’s a fact – on average 70% of new business is gained through referrals or relationship marketing, and not only that, business networking is one of the most cost-effective ways of building your business. Whether you choose to network face to face or through media such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook you’ll find that effectively, efficiently networking will accelerate your business growth.

In social networking people are primarily focused on people’s attributes that make them good friends. In business networking you try to find others who have attributes that you can benefit from and friendship seems to be a sidebar.

Business networking clubs and websites are full of people with many connections but little of value to offer, and they achieve poor results. Good results come instead from being friendly and open, from taking the initiative, from working hard at sustaining genuinely helpful contributions wherever you meet people.

Business networking is not simply finding customers in one-to-one meetings and connections; it’s building a strong network, helpful for your aims. Accordingly project yourself as a great networker, as well as being a great supplier or specialist.

Make sure the you create a win win relationship with the people you meet.