How Business Networking Can Help You Boost Your Small Businesses Sales

As we move towards the end of 10 Tips To Grow Sales In Your Small Business, it’s our turn to have a look at business networking. Networking for a long time has been a good way of not only gaining contacts in business but also a way to boost your sales. Now with the current climate, I expect online networking to explode over the next couple of years as less and fewer people will be inclined to travel.

No matter where you are in the world there is bound to be an abundance of networking groups that you can go to, no matter how rural you are. Networking with local businesses online might not gain you sales directly but what it does is get your brand out there and known and recognised.

Having said that it could be a case where you go online to a few networking meetings and you gain a sale from meeting a fellow business owner there who has been after services that your company offer. Online networking meetings are also great places for meeting business owners who will be able to refer their other contacts to you when they require the services you offer. This is also something you should be looking to offer other business owners when someone comes to you after services/products that someone who you’ve networked with offers.

The more you get known within a business networking group the more your small business gets known as well. In addition to this the more you refer your contacts to others in the group for business services and/or products the more they will want to reciprocate the gesture and refer leads to you.

Don’t Go Straight Into A Meeting To Sell

However a common mistake a lot of small business owners make when they attend a business networking meeting is that they’re going there intending to sell their services and/OR products. This is not why you should be attending a networking meeting. And it’s not a way to get sales from networking. You are going there too, as the name suggests, ‘network’. You’re going there to get to know other business owners and for them to have the opportunity to get to know you.

If you go into the meeting to tell everyone about your products and services, the other business owners in that meeting will see it as you’ve misunderstood the reason behind why they hold these business networking meetings and if they did need similar services to what you offer in the future they might even be put off because of the experience.

Give Them A Background About You And Your Business

When you attend an online business networking meeting and you are asked to introduce yourself and present. Instead of going into a sales pitch, introduce yourself, your background and talk the room through your journey so far leading up to where you are today. This way they are getting to know about you and what led you to do what you do today. Giving them a background of you as a person will also familiarise themselves with you as a person and you are essentially the face of your business in that room.

Listening to other business owners talk about their journeys as well can give you some insights as to whether you have shared any parts of the same journey, and can also provide you with some inspiration on how you can alter the route you are on now. Business networking meetings commonly have keynote speakers who will talk about a specialist area they are in. These presentations can sometimes be a goldmine of useful insights and tips for you to take on board that you can apply to your business.

Build Your Confidence

Business networking meetings for some business owners might be a daunting prospect at first. Being online with people you don’t know yet and being asked to speak about your business. However, once you attend your first online meeting your confidence will start to rocket. This not only helps going forward with other future meetings but having that newly filled confidence can help you in business in general allowing you to have more confidence in your business, employees and much more.

Business Networking In Summary

Online business networking can be a goldmine when it comes to gaining THOSE useful contacts in business and also to increase sales within your business. If you haven’t considered online networking already I would recommend having a search tonight for online business networking meetings in your local area or country and signing yourself up for your first meeting. Once you have been to your first meeting you won’t believe what you’ve been missing out on.

If you are want to get more return from your online and offline business networking then check out my online course which will help you get more from your efforts THE LOVE SALES HATE SELLING CRASH COURSE, it is perfect for the business owner who is looking to get more from online and offline business networking

Carry on reading to find out more ways in which you can begin to grow sales in your business today