Business Networking For Dummies

by Stefan Thomas

Overview

Grow your business, build your career, find more customers, and build a valuable support network of likeminded business people.

Networking is a crucial skill for all professionals and business owners. Quite simply, it’s a fast and effective way to build your business or career - and excellent networking skills will set you apart from the competition. Business Networking For Dummies shows you how to get the most out of networking - both online and offline.

With Business Networking For Dummies, you’ll learn to:

• Use business networking to grow and develop your business
• Find the right platform or platforms to build your own network and ‘assemble your crowd’
• Pitch yourself and your business with confidence
• Get the most out of face-to-face networking events - including valuable tips on presentation skills and sound bites!
• Join up your ‘real life’ and online networking
• Measure your networking success
• Follow up with new contacts successfully

“This is a cornerstone book for anyone involved in running a smaller business and wishing to deploy networking as an enquiry source. It is clear, concise and provides a complete education for succeeding in, what is for some, a difficult environment."
Ben Kench, Leading UK sales trainer and business growth specialist

"I’ve read this entire book from start to finish and so should you because, when you know what you’re doing, business networking does work, and by following the blueprint that Stef has set down for you: first you’ll learn, then you’ll earn.”
Brad Burton, Managing Director, 4Networking Ltd.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118833353
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	07/08/2014
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Stefan Thomas is Network Director for 4Networking and a marketing and networking expert. He spends his days roving the 4N network and helping members get the best from 4Networking.

Read an Excerpt

Business Networking For Dummies

---

By Stefan Thomas

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-118-83335-3

---

CHAPTER 1

Getting to Grips with Networking Basics

In This Chapter

* Deciding why to focus on business networking

* Examining where it all started

* Understanding what to expect

In this first chapter, I explain why I fell in love with business networking, after a particularly shaky start. I also explain some of the options you have, and what you should expect if you're about to start networking.

Most importantly, I give you a few pointers and belie some of the common myths about networking, as well as plot a course from when the first person decided to go networking to where we are now.

Understanding Business Networking

I would love to be able to tell you where networking started and who it started with. It would be a brilliant start to this book if I were to give dates and historical evidence to support my contention that everyone everywhere needs to network in some way.

Focusing on business networking particularly, I reckon it started when a caveman (I'll call him Og, although the truth is I don't know) was really good at hunting oxen and his neighbour (who we shall call Ug) was well known locally for being able to make fire. Ug would always help Og make a fire and, in return, Og would give Ug some of his oxen meat; a sort of early barter arrangement.

Ug was one day helping another villager, Ig, to make a fire. Ig made spears and Ug mentioned, most likely by drawing on the wall of the cave, that his mate Og would be really interested in looking at Ig's spears and he would bring him along tomorrow to meet him.

Whether Og, Ug or Ig ever existed and whether there ever was an exchange of spears we shall never know. But I reckon that, when people first started specialising in something, that was when something akin to networking began happening.

Sadly, Og worked out that his best bet was to kill Ig, steal all his spears and keep the oxen meat. It always was a rough neighbourhood!

Tens of thousands of years later, a guy called Stefan walked into his first ever business networking event and therein started a love affair.

This affair began by attacking networking with brute force myself, simply by doing as much of it as I possibly could and forcing myself to find out how to do it better along the way.

But before I learned 'how?', I needed to understand 'why?'.

Starting with 'Why?'

You found out how to walk because you wanted to reach the exciting things that your parents had placed just out of your reach. The exciting things looked so good that the falls and the effort required to hoist yourself up, fall down and hoist yourself up again were worth it. After a few weeks of repeating these moves, you were able to take your first tentative steps. Then, you grabbed the first thing you could reach and put it in your mouth.

You learned to talk so that you could then give your parents feedback on the stuff they were leaving around for you to put in your mouth and ask them to put slightly tastier things within reach.

Around 17 years later, you wanted to travel further afield for more and tastier things, or wished to impress the opposite sex, so you found out how to use a complicated and expensive device (the car!) so that you could move around the country with relative ease.

At every stage, you first had a big reason 'why' you wanted to do something that involved lots of effort to learn how to do properly.

Had the 'why' not been there, had really tasty things been within easy reach, you may never have bothered with any of the above.

Noting the 'why' of networking

Today you have an opportunity to find out how to network, or how to network better.

Now I love networking. I love it enough that it's a huge part of what I do and these days I get an awful lot out of it. But getting it right may take a bit of effort and, like getting good at anything in life, you need to work out why you want to do it, so you can remember that if it ever feels hard.

What's your biggest challenge in business? What's the thing that keeps you awake at night or distracts you while you're trying to work? What would you like to be better at or have more of?

Write it down. Is what you've written down worth a bit of effort? If it is worth some effort, brilliant; if it isn't, then you're not thinking hard enough.

If you wrote down 'sharks', you're just being silly.

Whatever you wrote down (except sharks), you'll be able to solve that challenge or find that thing through business networking.

I reckon you wrote down something like:

[check] I've just started a business and don't know what to do next.

[check] We don't have enough clients.

[check] Our advertising isn't working.

[check] I don't know how to sell what I'm doing.

[check] I'm not confident enough.

[check] I need to start selling before I run out of cash.

[check] I've run out of cash.

[check] I need to know how to do something better.

[check] Nobody understands what I'm selling.

[check] There's too much competition for what I'm doing.

Do any of these resonate with you?

REMEMBER

If you get good at business networking, by reading the rest of this book plus practising and refining as you go, you really can find whatever your business needs by building your network around you:

[check] More confidence

[check] More contacts

[check] More sales

Figuring out your 'why'

What is the thing that's going to make you really want to get good at this business and make it work?

Do you really want your business to work? Do you really want to get more out of business networking? Do you really want to answer another rhetorical question?

Go back a step further. Why are you really doing this? What is the thing that gets you up every morning and keeps you working on your business even when the going is tough?

Is it that you want to make a difference? Do you want your kids to have a better life than you did? Perhaps you want to take more holidays or to build up a decent pension?

I can't answer this question for you, but if you run a business, you're going to need to know why you're doing it. That's what gets you out of bed and working; that's what keeps you going when you have to put in the extra work and do the things you need to do, particularly as you're building your business.

REMEMBER

Think about why you want this business to work. Write it down. Refer back to it if you ever question yourself.

Talking to Strangers (Ignore Your Parents' Advice)

One of the issues around networking is that it goes against everything you were told as a child.

I grew up in the 1970s (and will let you know when I stop growing up and become a grown up). Something that I was repeatedly told, by parents, teachers, nuns (Catholic school) and by the Public Information Films on the telly, was that I shouldn't talk to strangers.

Thirty odd years later, and I was walking into a room full of people who I didn't know – all of whom were strangers and all of whom I was expected to talk to!

This talking to strangers filled me with dread for a lot of reasons. Firstly, it went against those teachings from cleverer and bigger people than me when I was little. Secondly, I convinced myself that everyone else in the room was somehow 'better' than me.

I convinced myself that everyone else would have a better business, would be much more confident in what they were doing, probably have a better car and undoubtedly go on better holidays than me. Who was I, just starting out in the self-employed arena, to have anything in common with these giants of the local business world?

I learned a really valuable lesson in those early days, which I have had to learn and re-learn pretty much every day since. If I wanted to be any sort of success, I had to learn to get over myself and my little fears and insecurities. I had to push out of my comfort zone a little bit, then a little bit more, then a little bit more.

TIP

I was once told by someone not to think about going out of my comfort zone. Why would I want to do that? My comfort zone is comfortable. I like being comfortable. He taught me to think about going into my adventure zone. Instead of thinking that I'm leaving something comfortable, I now think about entering somewhere exciting. My comfort zone broadly involves me sitting at home eating crisps and watching repeats of Open All Hours. My adventure zone is akin to getting to go to Alton Towers every day and each time encountering a brand new and more thrilling ride.

No matter what your parents, teachers or kindly nuns taught you, ignore that for a while. If you're going to be any sort of success in business, you will need to talk to other people and a business networking environment, where everybody has chosen to be there and nobody has to worry too much about selling straight away, is the friendliest and most effective arena I've found for achieving that.

Knowing Who Uses Networking

People often ask me, 'So, who is going to be there?' or 'What types of businesses will be at the event?'

The truth is, all sorts of businesses use networking and all sorts of people go to networking events.

I've met the entire spectrum of business types and types of business people at networking events, from new start-ups through to owners of big businesses. No type of business is represented every time and not every type of business person is found at every event.

Try thinking about mining when you think about networking. Every type of business with every need and every purchasing requirement can be found here. Think of networking like this: you've established that there's gold here; you just don't know where the biggest nuggets are and where you'll simply dig without finding much.

But when you're mining, you keep digging and that's exactly what I recommend you do with your networking activity. Keep refining your approach by all means; keep finding better and more efficient tools to help you network. But keep digging.

What I sometimes see people do is dig for a while, then give up and go to dig another hole somewhere else, in a different networking group. Somehow they expect that, if they move from networking group to networking group often enough, they'll somehow stumble across a magical group of people waiting to buy from them.

Obviously, I'm a director of a networking organisation, so I have a preference. But find a networking organisation that suits you and stick with it. Find one where you're comfortable with the culture and the value that you can get from the network. Then apply every tool at your disposal to make it work.

TIP

Don't ever just focus on the people in the room; always keep in mind that you're also talking to everyone they know.

Think beyond the room. Every connection – every real connection – has value.

REMEMBER

Remember, always, that whether your networking efforts work, or not, is ultimately your responsibility.

Rather than looking elsewhere for the 'right' people, have a look at your approach, refine, revisit, measure and make it work.

Realising It's Not All Funny Handshakes and Old Boys Clubs

One of my biggest worries when I first started going to networking events was that I had a stereotype in my head that I couldn't shake. I thought that the room would be full of people with much more business experience than me, all wearing very smart suits, and have the atmosphere of some of the uncomfortable business events I had attended early in my career.

Now, don't get me wrong. Networking events that do feel like 'old boys clubs' do exist, and they have a place. For example, you can find events that just welcome men, and events that only welcome women.

But for each of the above, you can also find at least as many networking events that welcome everyone, regardless of business type, business experience, dress code, gender or anything else. Plenty of networking events make everyone feel welcome and confident.

Some people are more comfortable with a strict structure, a defined dress code or only in the company of people of the same sex. But to my mind, every time you're at a networking event with a restriction, you're restricting the number of people you can meet, connect with and potentially do business with.

However, even in this section, I'm stating my opinion and my preference. What is important is that you choose a networking group or organisation that suits you and, throughout this book, I give advice and guidance to help you do so.

Finding Networking Opportunities

A networking opportunity to suit you really does exist, whatever your preference for types of events and format and whether you choose to look locally, regionally or nationally (or even internationally, come to that).

Chapter 4 of this book provides lots of guidance on finding networking opportunities but, in brief, start with recommendations from people you already know in business. If that fails, Google is your friend.

TIP

I will say something here, though. If you're starting your networking career, go to as many events as you can and work out what's the best fit for you. Think about:

[check] Where do you feel comfortable?

[check] What structure works for you?

[check] Are you being asked to commit to being there and, if so, is that a realistic commitment for you?

Try before you commit.

Following Networking Guidelines

Any networking group or organisation has certain guidelines, sometimes written and enforced, sometimes unwritten and simply expected.

I'm not a fan of rules anymore. I think that a lot of rules in business were created for a different age and many are no longer relevant. Who decided that people in business should dress in a particular way? And why does dressing a certain way make you more 'professional'? A suit is just a uniform.

One of the many extra benefits of networking is that you get to know other people's rules and decide whether you want to work with them or not. You may decide that it's in the interests of your business to follow some laid-down rules and guidelines, or instead that you went into business to make your own decisions and not follow other people's rules.

What networking can also give you is the confidence to decide such things for yourself. For a long time, I acted in the way I was expected to act and dressed in the way I was expected to dress, purely to suit other people's rules. Once I became confident enough to do things my way, I found that I was more relaxed and, as a direct result, people were more relaxed around me.

What I don't want to do in this chapter is make you worry, if you're about to embark on your first networking experience, that there'll be a load of rules that you have to abide by.

TIP

Turn up and be yourself and make sure that any networking event fits you before you commit to it.

Networking in a Nutshell: Different Formats

Networking involves lots of different formats and structures and I go into them in more detail in Chapter 6. Here, I just give you a flavour of what to expect, particularly if you're thinking of going along for the first time, or attending something different to your usual meeting.

Understanding unstructured networking meetings

You'll find networking meetings, and events listing networking as part of the format, which can best be described as 'unstructured'.

The best way to describe these meetings is that they're in a room full of people and you get to choose whether or not you go up and talk to the others.

Some people really thrive in these kind of meetings, and work the room with ease and panache, talking to everyone they have time for and always exchanging business cards. I deal with open networking like this in Chapter 7.

Bear in mind that if you're invited to an event or dinner that has something else as the main event but lists 'networking' as well, it probably means that there'll be lots of other people in the room. The networking probably doesn't have any structure.

Seeking out structured networking meetings

The type of networking meeting that I'm most familiar with (and personally prefer) is structured. These meetings are where the networking forms part of a proven structure or script.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Business Networking For Dummies by Stefan Thomas. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Excerpted by permission of John Wiley & Sons.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Foreword xv

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part I: Getting Started with Business Networking 5

Chapter 1: Getting to Grips with Networking Basics 7

Understanding Business Networking 7

Starting with ‘Why?’ 8

Noting the ‘why’ of networking 9

Figuring out your ‘why’ 10

Talking to Strangers (Ignore Your Parents’ Advice) 11

Knowing Who Uses Networking 12

Realising It’s Not All Funny Handshakes and Old Boys Clubs 15

Finding Networking Opportunities 15

Following Networking Guidelines 16

Networking in a Nutshell: Different Formats 17

Understanding unstructured networking meetings 17

Seeking out structured networking meetings 18

Networking formats you’re likely to encounter 18

Business networking and referral marketing – same difference? 19

Chapter 2: Exploring Different Aspects of Networking 23

Networking for the Employed 23

Building your skillset using networking 25

Meeting people in the same industry to swap ideas 27

Keeping up to date with trends in your industry 28

Meeting your next boss – career building and future proofing 28

Networking for the Business Owner 29

Promoting your business 29

Finding trusted suppliers: Real-life Google 31

Keeping up to date with trends in business 33

Creating your virtual team: The future of business 33

Networking as Marketing 34

Clarifying your marketing aims 35

Reaping the benefits of business networking 35

Networking Meets Social Media 36

Seeing the relevance 36

Making the most of social media 37

Chapter 3: Setting (Realistic) Expectations 39

Recognising Why You Need to Set Expectations 39

Thinking about what You Expect to Get Out of Networking 40

Coping with your first networking event 41

Knowing That Networking Isn’t Without Effort 42

Keeping track of your schedule 43

Being patient 44

Chapter 4: Making Use of Networking Organisations 47

Finding the Right Organisation for You 48

Start locally 49

Match your business to the prospect 49

Finding Independent Networking Clubs 50

Contacting your local chamber of commerce 51

Finding local independent networking groups 51

Joining Commercial Networking Organisations (in the UK) 52

4Networking 54

BNI 54

Business Scene 55

FSB 55

NRG 56

Women-only networking organisations 56

Coming across Co-working 56

Co-working hubs 57

KindredHQ 57

Regus 58

Specialist and Niche Networking Organisations and Groups 58

Understanding the Politics of Networking Groups 59

Running Your Own Networking Club 60

Remembering Why You Got Involved 62

Chapter 5: Networking at Trade Shows 65

Knowing What to Expect from a Trade Show 65

The Great British Business Show 66

The Welsh Business Shows 66

New Start Scotland 67

Finding Local and National Trade Shows 67

Making Your Trade Show Experience a Success 68

Networking at trade shows, big or small 69

Becoming part of the crowd 70

Feeling the Need for Speed Networking 71

Doing something different 71

Following up 72

Part II: Face-to-face Networking 73

Chapter 6: Attending Networking Meetings 75

Finding Time to Network 75

Recognising that networking is real work 76

Networking to suit you and your business 77

Using your time twice 78

Deciding What to Wear and What to Take with You 79

Making sure that you understand the dress code 79

Thinking about the impression you want to make 80

Being prepared with business cards – and plenty of them 81

Taking promotional material 81

Knowing What Time to Arrive 82

Checking the meeting timings 82

Entering as an early bird or fashionably late? 82

Calming Your Nerves 83

Knowing why your nerves may be your biggest asset 85

Keeping on top of first-time jitters 86

Managing your nerves and appearing confident 87

Knowing what time to go home 89

Chapter 7: Making Connections in Open Networking 91

Understanding Open Networking 91

Introducing Yourself to People You Don’t Know 92

Recognising that everyone’s in the same boat 92

Choosing who to approach 93

Making an Impression 95

The handshake 96

Starting a conversation 98

Answering ‘So, what do you do?’ 100

Chapter 8: Nailing the Introductions Round 103

Getting the Scoop on the Introductions Round 103

Remembering that you’re trying to get the interview, not the job 105

Avoiding the elevator pitch error 105

Standing Out from the Crowd 107

Preparation, preparation, preparation 107

Think about what they might be buying, not what you’re selling 108

Using soundbites 109

Using props 110

Understanding body language 111

Can you hear me? 114

Injecting your introduction with passion and confidence 116

Rules to Follow and Things to Avoid 116

Introducing Sample Templates for Your Introduction 117

The attention grabber 118

The third-party endorsement 122

Remembering What You Planned to Say 125

Chapter 9: Handling One-to-Ones 127

Getting the Scoop on One-to-Ones 127

Having a one-to-one with everyone 128

Getting the Most from One-to-Ones 129

Where to have a one-to-one 129

When to have a one-to-one 130

Asking open questions 132

Are you listening or waiting for your turn to speak? 134

Making notes to follow up with 134

Taking notes like a pro 135

Knowing What to Do After the Meeting 136

Chapter 10: Breezing Through the Ten-Minute Speaker Slot 137

Recognising the Opportunity 137

Reaping the benefits 139

Understanding stock value 140

Planning and Preparing 140

Looking at Different Networks, Different Opportunities, Different Approaches 141

Using ten minutes to talk about your business 141

Using ten minutes not to talk about your business 145

Structuring Your Presentation 151

Questions and answers 151

Checking your timings 152

Coping when the day comes 152

Chapter 11: Following Up 155

Following Up to Win 155

Ouch! Dealing with Your Piles 156

Making the most of business cards 157

Using CRM systems 160

Evaluating email marketing software 161

Following Up Successfully 162

Thinking about your follow up 163

Being creative 164

Reminding People about Your Business 166

Asking for business 166

Asking for referrals 168

Part III: Networking Online and Using Social Media 171

Chapter 12: Networking Online 173

Introducing Online Networking 174

Finding Business Networking Forums 175

Joining an Online Community 175

Becoming Part of Any Community 178

Advertising is Okay (Sometimes) 179

Calling First Means That You Often Get the Job 180

Establishing Yourself as the ‘Go-To Guy’ in the Community 181

Chapter 13: Using Social Media to Keep Relationships Alive 183

Venturing into Social Media 183

Realising that the times, they are a-changing 184

Entering social media 185

Winning Friends and Influencing People 185

Finding common ground 186

Forming meaningful relationships 186

Going local, regional, national or international 187

Joining in other people’s conversations 188

Staying in Your Contacts’ Field of Vision 189

Going beyond: Following up with social media 190

Thinking business? Think personal as well 192

Spotting easy referral opportunities 196

Getting Maximum Value from Blogging by Hardly Writing a Word 196

Curating information about your industry or profession 198

Remembering it’s about conversation not content 199

Chapter 14: Networking Using Different Social Media Platforms 203

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Business 203

Twitter 204

Facebook 207

LinkedIn 208

Google+ 209

Blogs 210

Instagram 210

Vine 211

Foursquare 211

Pinterest 212

Taking the Next Steps in Social Media 212

Chapter 15: Joining Up Your Online and Offline Networking 215

Acknowledging that People are People – However You Connect 215

Finding Your Strongest Connections 217

Meeting People Before You Meet Them 219

Researching your prospects 220

Listening online, then speaking on the phone 221

Part IV: Turbo-charging Your Networking 225

Chapter 16: Using Networking to Build Your Business 227

Standing Out in Networking 227

Putting in the effort 228

Remembering that networking isn’t easy 229

Engaging your brain and engaging your network 230

Finding better ways to advertise than shouting to strangers 231

Boosting Your Business with Personal Branding 233

Learning from Evian’s posh bottles 234

Being a product of the product 236

Using Networking as an Excuse 238

Getting to your ideal prospects using networking 238

Using networking for businesses that can’t cold call 240

Chapter 17: Building Networking into Your Business Strategy 241

Circles Within Circles: It Isn’t Just About Who You Know 241

Staying in Touch When You Said You Would 243

Finding people to talk to 243

Growing your network as people come and go 244

Thinking Outside the Limited Company 245

Building Your Virtual Team 247

Settling Into a Routine and Knowing What Works for You 248

Part V: Measuring Your Success 249

Chapter 18: Networking or Notworking? 251

Measuring your Return on Investment 251

Recognising and recording the value in every meeting 252

Finding the hidden value in networking 253

Adjusting Your Mindset to Spot the Benefits 254

Listening to your intuition 255

Keeping an open mind 256

Acknowledging that networking is always working 257

Chapter 19: Revisiting Your Approach 259

Using Networking as a Sounding Board 259

Nobody’s asking you for a one-to-one 260

Business is dribbling in 261

You’re getting one-to-ones but nobody’s buying 263

You view knock backs negatively 263

Using Your Networking Contacts to Advise You 264

Launching new products to your networking crowd 265

Trying new pitches 266

Tailoring your approach to your environment 267

Discovering the secret to turning around your networking experience 267

Keeping Faith with Networking 268

Part VI: The Part of Tens 271

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Improve Your Networking Results 273

Do More Networking 273

Become Part of Your Group’s Team 274

Volunteer for the Ten-Minute Slot 274

Take an Honest Look at Your 40-Second Introduction 274

Attend Meetings of Other Networking Groups 275

Phone People 275

Run a Mini-Seminar after a Networking Event 275

Use Social Media 276

Make it Easy for People to Buy from You 276

Understand that Networking is Working 277

Chapter 21: Ten Networking Gaffes to Avoid 279

Talking Only About Yourself 279

Overrunning 280

Being Late 280

Whispering during Other People’s Introductions 280

Ridiculing or Disrespecting Your Competitors 281

Adding People to Your Mailing List without Permission 281

Judging a Book by Its Cover 282

Not Following Up 282

Treating Networking as a One-Off Sale 282

Forgetting to Smile 283

Index 285