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The key to any successful business is in creating relationships with like-minded individuals. More often than not, business owners who network together recommended clients to each other. The more supportive relationships you make, the higher the chances of a potential client walking through your door. The sad fact is that many business owners don't network enough because they feel they are too busy running their business. The 3 tips I've shared below will help you to take advantage of the power of business networking. 1 . Support Other Business Owners When you are talking to business owners in any setting, make a point of showing them how you can be of service to their company. During your first meeting, resist the urge to talk about yourself, and ask as many questions as you can to show the other person that you are genuinely interested in their service. Give them helpful, valuable information that they can use right away to improve their business in some way. If you go into networking meetings with an attitude of truly HELPING other people without expecting anything in return, you'll find many will want to support you even more. 2. Keep Your Networking Goals Simple The First Time You Meet You don't want to confuse anyone with your complicated objectives, keep it simple so it is easy to explain. Most importantly, if your business goals are too complicated to explain then people will probably assume your business is unorganized and not worth mentioning to clients. 3. Do Most Of Your Business Networking Online The Internet provides so many opportunities to connect with other people. LinkedIn has become a huge online network created especially for people who run their own businesses or are self-employed. After a slow start, the last few years has seen Linkedin's growth rate explode as people realized it's potential for networking with the exact people they wanted as prospects and clients. From a person's public Linkedin profile, you can tell whether or not they are a business owner you would like to create a relationship with. Offline networking meetings such as BNI, and Chamber Of Commerce get-togethers are important as well, but you'll notice many people turning to the Internet as it is more convenient. Growing Your Business Into The Future So take a few minutes out of your schedule some time today, and create a clear, compelling description of what your business is and does. You'll then use this as your Elevator Pitch whenever you meet new business owners. Visit Linkedin and meet some prospective networking partners by offering to help them with something first. By doing this, you're going to start finding people who can refer clients to you, and you can refer people to them. Business networking done the right way really is a win-win for everybody. Networking with other business owners is only one of the functions required to successfully build a business. This 17 Commandments Review goes through many of the other things you should be focus on too. The 17 Commandments of IM program takes you through all of the important steps in creating a profitable online or offline business. You can learn more here.
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