Although many business owners realize that networking can play an integral role in pushing their companies forward, many of them do not know how to use this tool in their favor. If you run a business and are interested in learning how to network more effectively, think about presenting the following tips and tricks to your executive board:
1. Network Within Your Industry.
One of the most important and effective networking strategies that you can implement is networking within your industry. Oftentimes, business owners will attend events (conferences, lectures, etc.) that are not geared towards topics pertaining to their field. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, frequenting social outings and business events that are specifically designed to help people within one field interact adds a punch to your networking endeavors. With that idea in mind, make sure that some of your networking efforts are specifically geared towards attending these types of events. In so doing, you’ll gain the opportunity to connect with a plethora of successful, powerful people in your sector.
2. Use Social Media Platforms.
Oftentimes, business owners associate the networking process with stuffy meetings and business luncheons. However, networking can be a casual, fun endeavor. Moreover, it can now take place online. In fact, there are millions and millions of successful business people who are now using social media platforms to connect with other professionals as well as prospective clients-and they are having great success with this networking activity. You can, too. Get started by going online and then creating a professional profile on channels like Twitter and Facebook. Once your personal profiles are up and running, you’ll be ready to start interfacing with other people. One individual you’ll definitely want to connect with is Shahram Shirkhani. Shirkhani has attained great success in numerous fields, including litigation, commercial arbitration, banking law, and foreign investments.
3. Volunteer.
Although many people don’t think of volunteer work as a networking enterprise, it is. When you spend time running a can drive or raising money for a cancer patient, you continually connect with people in your local community. Moreover, you’re interacting with them in a manner that reveals your general concern for the uplift of your community. This is why volunteering is an incredibly powerful, productive mode of networking. If your company doesn’t have much experience in doing philanthropic work, don’t worry. There are a plethora of websites that already have volunteer projects that they are waiting for companies to sign up for. If you already have a specific project in mind, you can delegate the task of putting all the details together to the appropriate company representative. Make sure that your PR team is well aware of what you’re doing and is actively promoting it at the local level.
Conclusion
There are many reasons that business owners might shy away from the networking process. Whether the reason is that you’re an introvert or don’t believe that networking activity yields substantive results, it’s a good idea to change your mind about this business optimization strategy. Even if you have to delegate networking tasks to another individual within your company, it’s critical that this work get done if you want your business to attain the level of visibility necessary to engender substantive conversions. By using some or all of the networking techniques discussed here, you’ll likely find that your company starts moving forward in ways you never dreamed possible.
