“Next time you attend a networking event, remember to open your heart as well as your business card holder—you might just discover a lifelong friend.”
I saw this written somewhere recently and I thought it was spot on. It is certainly true of my experience of networking.
We know that networking has long been hailed as a useful tool for building professional relationships and growing your business. It can offer you the opportunity to connect with like–minded individuals, gain industry insights, and explore potential business collaborations. However, there is a side of networking that often gets overlooked — the potential to forge deep and meaningful friendships that extend far beyond your business interests.
Many of us join a networking group (BNI, for example) and soon start to fret that we are not getting much work straightaway. The secret is to realise that networking is not just about selling and looking for work, but the sense of belonging, the support, and the opportunity to build a circle of friends who will enrich not just your career but your life.
“If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”
Zig Ziglar
Outside of our businesses — in our ‘real lives’ — if we are looking for a product or a service, we’re likely to defer to friends and family for honest recommendations. We are also far more likely to recommend someone to our friends if we genuinely trust them. By building on your initial networking connections and having such a group of friends, when the time comes that someone they know needs the service or product YOU offer, you are likely to be the person who springs instantly to mind that they would want to recommend.
Sometimes, networking events can feel very transactional or a little forced. That the event is for ‘displaying your wares’, reeling off your elevator pitch or trying to gauge what others have to offer for you and your business. None of those elements in themselves are necessarily a bad thing — after all, you initially joined a networking group to help grow your business. Yet, if you come away with a handful of business cards but no great understanding about the people you were talking to and very little in the way of connections, are you likely to reach out to them again?
How do you build your ‘business community’?
One of the dictionary definitions of a community is ‘the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common’. Having a connection is the start of all relationships, personal, professional or those that span both – your business community.
A good way to make a personal connection is to find something you have in common with the other person. Ask the right questions. Show interest. Listen. And then share. Build a rapport by talking about your interests and passions.
This next one is important — be yourself. Don’t roll your eyes! I know this may well be a cliché that is as old as the hills, but that is because it is so true! You will make a much better first impression if you are positive and authentic. Generally, people will sense when you are genuine and trustworthy, so don’t try to be something you’re not!
Not every connection will result in you finding your new best buddy. Sometimes, at best, you will come away with a new solid business lead, and (at worst) you will know who to avoid at the next networking event! 😉 I think whether you are ‘networking’ or ‘making friends’, the same rule applies — quality over quantity. Find that select few who ‘get you’, where you want to build a meaningful relationship with them.
I truly cherish the friendships I have developed over the years — people I have met through my business, from networking, suppliers, and lots of my clients too. We may have started out as business acquaintances, but we are now very firm friends. The kind of friends who, when I was recovering from my recent surgery, came to visit — armed with lunch — and made me feel so much better! We had such a fabulous day, talked about anything and everything, without a business pitch in sight!
