Networking For Your Business

0 CommentsThursday • February 10, 2011 • by Imei

Tweet

How do you network for your business? My close friend (and now Twitter pal @GeraldineLilly, check it out!) told me she knows she needs to talk about her business with others more often, but doing it is a whole art. People are strangely surprised to find out who I know, and though I’m not exactly a name-dropping kind of person, I’m not ashamed to say that I know how to get around and meet people. If you have a small business (and especially a small art-related one) you are trying to grow, here are some ways you can learn to network with others without spamming friends and making enemies.

1. Identify pockets of like-minded people with whom you can both contribute to and benefit by. Scan Social Media events with keywords, follow people on Twitter who seem interesting to you, and see what events you might have in common. Attend local meetups related to your work and interests. Sign up for Plancast, and see what others are attending that may be of interest to you. Try to attend at least two to four events a month if you want to build your network quickly.

Don’t simply attend events to market. People would like to meet YOU before they meet your business. Keep your eyes out for people you can help. You’ll be surprised how many people will talk to you when you are legitimately listening to them talk about what they do. Ask questions, be curious, and learn from their stories. Always thank people for sharing. They will inevitably trust you with their referrals if you position yourself as a trust-worthy professional at what you do and who you are. If you simply attend an event to blast everyone with your spiel, you will eventually build a reputation as someone to be avoided, unless you come bearing free wine and chocolates. Then, you’ll just be tolerated.

Caveat: if you are an unfeeling, uncaring, impatient toad, disregard everything I just wrote above. We don’t need your acting skills to trick any of us into thinking you might be a caring human being. Instead, spend your money on some therapy. I happen to know a really good therapist with an office in Pionier Square….

2.When it comes time to talk about your business, keep it short and simple. It’s easier to talk about what it is you do if you come prepared with an elevator speech. At Blogworld 2009, I got up in front of a large group of people to ask a question, but I prefaced it with my tagline, “Hips For Hire matches performance and visual artists with hiring individuals and organizations while raising money for good social causes.” The moderator for the group interrupted me by saying, “Hey everyone, that was a really good description of what her business is. Good job. Everyone should do that.”

After you’ve introduced what it is you do, smile and shut up. You’ll be surprised what great questions people will ask you, which will help you tap your passion for what you do more naturally. If they are not curious, don’t flog them with more information. If they are curious, you’ll have lots to talk about.

Tip: practice your tag line or elevator speech with a discerning friend until you can say this in your sleep and your dog yawns while you’re practicing in front of the mirror. Don’t forget to show your passion and enthusiasm for what you do by showing that in your body language.

3. Come prepared with a way to exchange information with someone you’d like to continue to talk to more. You are no longer limited to the traditional business card, although a card is a nice way of showing that your business is a legitimate idea with feet to it. Other ways of sharing contact information:

* use your smartphone to send an email immediately to the person, with a “nice meeting you” in the subject line.
* use Evernote to record contacts made at a particular event. For example, “WordPress meetup, Feb. 09, Park Place app (Jordan). Now available on iTunes.”
* BUMP app for your smartphone. Using a Wi-Fi connection, exchange contact information you pre-selected. Just make a notation to yourself about what you wanted to follow up with.
* QR code scanner: for advanced users, I have a QR code on a page on my phone, and users can scan that QR code for my contact information encoded in the black and white cube.

Tip: I personally feel the colored business “chicklet” business card is rather worthless. It is so small, I’m likely to lose it, and because you cannot write on them, it’s difficult to make a notation as to why you accepted their card in the first place. Instead, invest in nice paper business cards in either the standard size or larger, and leave white space for you or others to write a note on it. Think about it — how rare it is to get a handwritten note these days? Write something personal on it, and it is less likely to be tossed out.

4. Follow up on all serious connections and leads within 48 hours. If you’re swamped, a week is pretty much the limit before people write you off as disinterested. Even a simple “thank you” or “nice meeting you” is a polite way to let people know that you truly saw them and appreciate them. A shout out on Twitter is another quick way to let them know you appreciated their time.

5. Offer graciously. It never hurts to offer your product or services to someone. Leave them a way to say no, but also let them know that you’d love the opportunity if they say yes. And then, shut up and listen. You may be there to connect them with someone else you know, and vice a versa.

This offer includes the opportunity to get together at another event. Ask what events they have gotten a lot out of, tell them about ones you’ve liked, and continue the conversation in another mutual direction after the “transactional” part of the conversation is over.

I could probably write five more blog posts on the subject and women, business, and networking woes, and a few posts on the subject of shyness, but I’ll stop here. Do you have a networking tip that has worked for you? Please share it with the community, and better yet, tell us how your small business has benefited by strategic networking.

And if you aren’t already doing so, please follow me on Twitter @HipsForHire.

Coming soon: guest blogger Ariana O’Dell tells you a thing or two about your small artful business.

Posted in: Art, Business

Tagged with: how to build your business, networking, small businesses, social networking