Most owners of small businesses will tell you they don't have a problem with selling once they get in front of the right person, but they hate cold calling.
They will also tell you that most of their business comes via Word of Mouth.
So why not just wait for referrals from satisfied existing clients?
The problem is that they don't have a big enough client base to survive on this alone. So they need to generate this Word of Mouth from other sources. That's where Business Networking comes in. By creating strong business relationships with other Business Owners you can generate that vital Word of Mouth to get in front of more of the right people.
The more help you can provide to your network in defining the right people the better. Defining your right people will also help you find the right Networking Groups for you. Those where at least some of the members are connected to them!
I was talking with a lawyer friend in London last week from a small firm with 2 partners. Although small their client list is very impressive. People with the money to pay well when faced with the type of legal problem my friend is a specialist in. I asked how he had built his practice and he said "a mixture of Networking and Pro Bono work".
He went on to say that he does a lot of networking with other trusted advisers to his potential and existing clients. He also said there are other people very well connected with his clients that do a lot of unpaid voluntary and charitable work. He does as much Pro Bono work as he can for these people and their organisations. His clients, their advisers and these 'volunteers' keep him very busy in well paying, profitable work for others they recommend him to.
Do your potential clients have advisers and other contacts that you should be networking and sharing your expertise with?
I met someone recently who said "The trouble with networking groups is everyone is selling, but nobody is buying". We discussed this a little further and he had been attending 'networking' meetings that were billed as 'the opportunity to find your next client'. Promotion for the meetings described typical attendees as 'decision makers'. In that context he was right as the wrong expectation had been set for people like him. Everyone was trying to sell to each other!
A couple of other people had joined the conversation by this stage. One said "I get all of my business from networking, but I don't sell. Nobody likes being sold to so I build trusted relationships with people that can refer me to their contacts".
She was right and had highlighted the big difference between selling and networking.
Selling is when you are engaged in direct activity with your target market.
Networking is when you are building relationships with others who can introduce & refer you into your target market.
So if you are looking for business directly from the people you meet that is selling. Successful networking builds regular business for the future.
No matter how experienced you are as an entrepreneur, you depend upon growing by having good advisers. The challenge is making sure that your advisers are supporting your goals and dreams and not just selling you their own.
She observed that the number of books and major articles on management has grown to over two thousand per year.Most of these focus upon a single idea in isolation and often out of context. But the practical reader wants ideas they can quickly use, so most literature is full of lessons learned and concrete to-do lists – the ten things you can do today to be effective or savvy.
The problem is that 10 things from each of 2000 sources suddenly turns into an overwhelming twenty thousand suggestions to you each year. This doesn’t even include the advice from friends, relatives, business consultants, customers, other successful entrepreneurs, and in today’s age the Internet. This is the problem of advice without context. Every piece of advice must be placed in the context of your personal goals and your business plan. This is the reason that you design your business plan to be your tool for designing your business. You must know not only what to do but why the advice supports your goals. So, as an entrepreneur, make sure you understand the motives of your advisers.
There is an old saying "When the going gets tough the tough get going". I think it would probably be more accurate to say "When the going gets tough the tough keep going". If you are already proactive then you will be ready.
I was talking with a couple of NRG-networks members after a networking lunch earlier this week. You will no doubt have heard the words 'credit crunch' bandied around and we were talking about the domestic property market. This week the UK Government scrapped Stamp Duty on some properties to try and stimulate movement amongst first time buyers in particular. One of the members mentioned two similar sized and neighbouring estate agency firms. In the previous month one had sold four properties and the other over 30! Both operate from similar High Street properties. Both have a similar web presence. Both have similar local advertising. What are they doing differently? He had seen activity reports from both.
The one who sold four was pretty much waiting for business to walk in as it obviously did during the boom years. They are sending out property details, but they are not following up. They are busy filing, keeping the desks tidy, having another coffee, making sure the computers and phones are clean. All important, but not likely to produce business without other productive activity.
The other is doing all these and also proactively building relationships with more potential buyers. They are actively networking in local groups. They are keeping in regular contact with their existing network, people on their database, old clients etc. As they receive new instructions they are also sending out details. They are also contacting prospective buyers by phone, email, letter, newsletters, etc. They are actively arranging meetings and trying new activities. They are keeping up and even increasing their productive activity. They have captured nearly all of the local market.
Are you concentrating on keeping busy or on your productive activity especially the following up?
, has an interesting insight. She calls it “advice without context”.