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Business networking is all about forming strong relationships built on mutual respect and trust. Those relationships are the basis for the single most important tool that we all need if we want to survive in the competitive 21st century.

I’m talking about referrals.

And today’s savvy business professionals know that–just as night follows day–networking leads to referral business.

Opportunities to network–to meet people for mutual support (and eventually referrals)–are everywhere. Here are just a few places to consider starting your networking efforts:

Professional Associations–Join your professional association. It’s a powerful source for richly rewarding contacts that can result in a tremendous number of referrals from people with a different specialty than yours.

If possible, join the professional association of your target market. Form those relationships. See and be seen among them and before you know it, you will be considered the “go-to” person in your industry.
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I attend a lot of networking events, industry association programs, and one-on-one meetings for breakfast, coffee or other food-related events. Whenever I network or attend events, I always tell people that it was worth my time and money if I gained just one creative idea or contact from the experience. This past month I really put that concept to the test by attending numerous networking meetings, including one tele-networking event!

Here are a few nuggets that I picked up as I networked my way through the past month.

1. Be Bold! The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis recently featured motivational speaker Ann Ulrich, who said, “We create our own possibilities for success by boldly creating opportunity from possibility.” According to Ann, combine possibility with perseverance and professionalism and you have your own personalized recipe for success. How do you create your own possibilities? By being bold of course.

2. Think Big. Sandra Wakefield, an advocate of Brilliant Living (her TV program bears that name), is also an advocate of brilliant networking. She recently brought together a group of like-minded women with the intent of connecting them with an organization that could help make their business goals and personal dreams come true. Not only did she inspire these women to think big she inspired them to think about how taking their businesses to the million dollar (or more!) level. Now that’s thinking big.
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How often have you not mentioned what you do in your business when you meet someone for the first time for fear of being seen as trying to sell?

A lot!! – I know that because people so often tell me that is so at seminars.

Well what if I could show you simple way to encourage people who are interested in your products to want to buy, whilst making sure that people who are not interested don’t feel sold to. Would that be of interest to you?

OK – but please do not be deceived by the simplicity of this idea. I guarantee it will totally transform your networking skills and increase your sales.However whilst the idea is simple it does require a complete shift in your thinking and that may be much harder to achieve.

When you meet someone for the first time they will usually get round to asking “What do you do?”But how do you answer?

Most people in my experience answer with a job description – “I’m an accountant, a lawyer, sell furniture, design web sites, run a beauty salon” etc. And often that’s the end of that conversation.

Yet every time you meet someone there is a possibility that they may be a potential customer or they may know a potential customer.Unfortunately we often fail to discover that because we don’t talk about business, because we feel uncomfortable about “selling.”
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As business owners or managers we often find it difficult, even in the best of situations to get out and seek new business. You’ve probably thought that if you could just find a way to squeeze that into your day without spending more time away from your family or working weekends, you’d be all set, right? Guess what? You can and all that it’s going to take is a little preparation.

1. Keep a box of business cards in your car. That way, you can always keep a stack of cards in your wallet or business card holder.

• The next time you go out to eat, leave a card on the table when you leave.
• Drop a business card in each bill you mail out.,/li>
• When you’re at the book store, slip your card into some of the books related to your industry. Be sure to put them near the middle of the book so they don’t fall out when someone is casually flipping through.
• Place a card rack full of your business cards on the counter of your dry cleaner. Most of them are more than happy to help out a good customer.
• Give each friend a stack of your business cards to hand out.

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