Networking, networking and MORE networking

For those of you who might believe that networking is a big schmooze-fest, think again. Networking is simply meeting other people. You can do this offline (face-to-face) and online (using the internet). Using both of these methods is your best bet. I met with Nathan Wright last week, who is a social media consultant and founder of LavaRow.com. He can help you with the online part and really guide you in ways that can help increase your referral business and increase the value of your existing online presence.

Appropriate networking is a must for you to increase business contacts and grow your business. It's best to find two groups of folks to network with. Find a group associated with your particular trade and also a group of folks that are not associated with your trade. This way you can collaborate with some of your competitors and build community within your trade. Your clients will think you are amazing for working WITH your competitors instead of AGAINST them. There is plenty of business to go around and chances are, you will do things differently than any of your competitors that will appeal to your target audience.

I've even had a competitor call me to tell me that one of my clients was calling on his company! That gave me an incredible opportunity to call my client to check in and see if there was anything that I could offer to keep her business. Turns out, I was able to keep her business AND work WITH my competitor on an aspect he was able to provide to my client that I was not.

My client was overjoyed to hear that we were working together to fully service her needs and went out of our way to do so. She had felt guilty about calling my competitor, but needed a service that I did not have.

Collaboration is key, community building is crucial. Know your competitors and introduce yourself to them. I think you will be surprised with the results!