Please enjoy this guest post from TARYN PISANESCHI, one of our favorite Fast Friends! Here at the High Velocity Blog, we talk a lot about using the internet and social media tools to grow your circle, but Taryn is a Jedi Master at the face-to-face networking game. Enjoy!
Taryn Pisaneschi
To network or not to network… That is the question!
It has been shown that people will buy based on word of mouth referrals or personal recommendations approximately 80% of the time.
There are various ways of getting your message out there to ideally cultivate referrals. How do YOU get your message out there? Aside from traditional marketing and online marketing, if you are not networking, you are missing out on an enormous and potentially FREE marketing opportunity…
On a daily basis, I hear woes of businesses losing market share, reporting losses, struggling and unsure as to how they are going to stay in business. When asked about their networking efforts, they reply with “I don’t have time to network.”
NO TIME TO NETWORK? Networking is easily the lowest cost, highest form of marketing available.
If you are choosing to bypass networking opportunities, you’re making a choice to not try and grow your business thereby reducing your potential for success in this economy.
During these challenging times, many are finding themselves with more time and less money… Take advantage of the many networking opportunities available and make a decision to take control of your business NOW. Get out there, plant the seeds for your business today and cultivate those relationships for business in the future.
What are YOU doing to grow your business as a result of the challenges the economy has posed?
Taryn is the founder and chief visionary for Women Intelligently Networking. She is a former guest on the High Velocity Radio Show. You can find her on Twitter here!
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I couldn’t agree more. I also have to admit that I have not made the time to do as much networking as I should. I will be making networking more of a priority as of today. I will give myself a pat on the back for the way I’m using Twitter, FaceBook, and MySpace – I have put together several deals that resulted in real business over the past few weeks.
I gotta discipline myself to make more time for those networking functions…thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for the comment, Dennis. I too can easily get caught up in spending time on social media, but it is ESSENTIAL to make time for face-to-face networking. The power of that personal connection is vital to your success in growing your business – and building your community…
No “ordinary” networking for me – the first group I joined was Taryn’s WIN organization!
I wholly endorse the view shared by Taryn in her blog. I recently rejoined the workforce and it is only through my networking efforts that I have managed to propel myself into my current position.
At times networking can seem overwhelmingly time consuming but the results cannot be ignored. Just do it!.
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Thanks Elaine. You are right, networking can seem overwhelming at times. But…if you are strategic in how you network and WHERE you network, you can actually have fun doing it. And get good results…
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with events, contacts, business cards and follow up emails… One thing that I do is to focus on 3 people at a time…. It makes following up and nuturing relationships a little more manageable. Even as an avid networker, I have to return to the basics when I start feeling like I’m caught in networking-mania. Focus on personally being a quality contact and helping others and then people will start coming to you, wanting you to be a part of -their- network… That’s when the magic starts!
Taryn
It is very important to make notes that will help you when contacting your new prospect. When I relocated 5 years ago I was very proud of my collection of just under 9,000 business cards. I collected them over a period of 14 years. When I finally began to attempt to organize them, I found that for the most part all I had was a stack of cards. By the time I seprated the ones I remembered clearly the “treasure” had dwindled to less than 1,000. What a wasted data base. I now have a system of symbols that allow me to quickly make notes on the back. S=self employed, G=golfer, and BAH=met @ a Business After Hours. This allows me to make quick notes without it being obvious.