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| What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | Views: 144 |
| Feb 22, 2009 6:21 pm | | What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | # |
Martin Zwilling | | Don't use email blasts and cold calls to start your business networking. I've outlined some better ideas in http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2009/02/business-networking-dos-and-donts.html , but I'm sure I missed a few. Help me out.
Private Reply to Martin Zwilling |
| Mar 20, 2009 9:01 pm | | re: What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | # |
Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605 | | Martin,
I think one of the important things for folks to do is to seek to lift up each other in the best of a business sense. Personal referrals are powerful. It costs you nothing to do it and can result in not only business for someone else but business for you as well. Why? Because in referring business to other folks, you become a "goto" person - a person folks look to for advice and help. Good things happen to those who help MAKE good things happen.
You might not think that sponsoring a road race or volunteering your time at a booth promoting the Special Olympics is going to bring your business more business. But, I definitely can. I have seen it happen.
Don't always have your hand out for a sale. Give someone a "hand up" and you may be surprised at the amount of business that ends up coming your way.
Would you like to see two examples as to how that works? Here's one with Dear Editor Letters. And, here is another with a Squidoo lens that links to an Evite Invitation - Tools To Move Middletown, CA Forward.
Lamar Morgan
Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605 |
| Mar 21, 2009 9:28 pm | | re: re: What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | # |
Heidi Caswell | | I agree Lamar. When we help others get what they want, you'd be surprised at how much comes back your way.
Works the same whether you are networking online or off. If you go to Ryze, Twitter, LinkedIn or one of the other thousands of places online and just post your link, saying come by from me, you are apt to make people angry. One person told me that they would never spend the time making any post anywhere unless it was advertising and promoting themselves. Kind of sad.
Each of us have our own circle of influence. Example, on twitter I saw a message that was passed on from a series of friends, someone wanted someone to make some cool buttons for their website. I know someone who does great work, followed the trail back to the person looking, introduced them to each other, business took place. I've had others refer people to me too. Now if you know several people who do similar work, both top quality, which person are you going to think of when asked "who do you know who does . . ." the one who was helpful or the one who only talks about themself.
Offline it is like giving everyone you meet your business card, and dumping on them all it is your company can do for them, knowing nothing about them or their business. I'd rather ask someone for their card, than give my own unasked. Get to know them, what they do, what type of referrals they are looking for, what their needs are, and good stuff happens.
Heidi Caswell
http://connectsimply.com/blog
Private Reply to Heidi Caswell |
| Mar 21, 2009 10:26 pm | | re: re: re: What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | # |
Walter Paul Bebirian | | by the way - Heidi - I received those samples and got a chance to look at them today - now I have to process all of this -
thank you!
Walter :-)
http://www.575488trillion.com
http://bebirianart.com
http://bebirianart.blogspot.com/
http://www.greenschild.com
Private Reply to Walter Paul Bebirian |
| Mar 22, 2009 7:35 pm | | re: re: re: What are some of the do's and don'ts of business networking? | # |
Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605 | | Heidi,
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said.
How often do you use the Yellow Pages? I hardly ever use it. When I need something and I do not know where to find it, I usually ask someone. For example, "Do you know a good doctor?" Why do I and a great many other folks ask other folks rather than consult the Yellow Pages? Because we need more than simply contact information. We need a third-party experience to help validate our need. No one wants to go to a doctor who has a bad reputation. The same is true for a lot of products and services.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
707-709-8605
Attract more customers!
Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605 |
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