I’m often told that networking is pointless for some businesses
Discover why the more niche you are the better your results can be
In a recent article we studied why some networkers are more successful than others. Some people tell me that it’s difficult to get results when business networking because “what we do is so niche”. I disagree; it doesn’t matter what your business does, networking is a great way to find qualified leads. It could be that some businesses are thinking that the people they meet when networking are unlikely to want what they provide. That may be true yet if it’s so niche it will stick in the mind of anyone that are told about it.
An example is a wedding dress designer – let’s imagine that’s you – just for a couple of minutes if you don’t like the idea. The number of people at networking events that want a wedding dress is going to be limited. Yet the number of people that attend weddings every year is huge. And no-one can argue that the people that attend business networking events never get invited to weddings.
As a wedding dress designer the more people you meet the better. They can then recommend you to everyone they receive a wedding invitation from. This will happen if you tell them exactly that and have bonded with them. We’ll tell you about bonding in future articles.
Back to being a wedding dress designer. There’s no point in thinking about you when they’re at the wedding (unless they approach the lucky recipient of the bride’s flowers). It’s too late then so make sure you tell them when it is appropriate to make introductions that will help you and their contacts. You should let them know that the time to introduce you is when they receive an invite.
Every niche business can work this out – in fact every business can work this out.
Wrap up; If you are niche you are lucky. There are very few of you and you can ensure you receive referrals before those that currently win more business. And you will always be a cost effective choice because you do not have to incorporate the cost of advertising in your prices.
Todays’s tip; Always tell people you meet the best time to introduce you. Contact us if you would like to learn more about networking results.
Next week; Discover how non-niche businesses benefit from networking
Beyond Networking is a networking results company. It will take five minutes to determine if anything they do will save you time and effort when networking.
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This article was very useful for a paper I am writing for my thesis.
Thanks
Bernice Franklin
UGG Purses
UGG Bags
Classic Tall Chestnut
Hi Joan, I hope the articles that are yet to be published are just as useful. Let me know if you have any particluar queries and I’ll try and address them in a fresh post.
Hi Bernice, don’t forget to mention me in the thesis
Let me know if you need any further information about networking and why it’s such a profitable form of marketing.
A nice article – but it doesn’t stress the multiplier effect of networking. At as networking event, you (wedding dress designer or not) are not only selling yourself to the person you’re talking to, but to their entire network. At an event you might be able to talk in depth with – say – 10 people. You haven’t just sold yourself to those 10, but if they’re good networkers, you’ve sold yourself to their networks as well. Say each of those 10 has a modest 30 people in their networks. Hey presto – 300 people are now potential customers. A good investment for a few hours walking and talking.
Thanks Ken, once people understand the long terms benefit of networking (the multiplier effect you mentioned) they can develop a strategy to make sure it happens.