Hello friends, welcome to the forums.
Generation of referrals /Increased business
Fact – 70% on average of all new business is gained through word of mouth and positive recommendation. As you develop your contacts and build up positive relationships with people you will find that you will naturally gain business and sales leads as people recommend your services. People like to pass business to those they know, like and trust. But this will only happen if you have a network of contacts in the first place.

Raising your profile
Just by expanding your contacts you are raising your profile – people now you exist and know what you do and you will more likely to be thought of if your products or services are required.

Free consultancy and advice
Generally, people like to help people and are willing to impart their expertise and advice to others who they have got to know, like and trust. You will find that as you build relationships with people the value of the help that is passed to you formally or informally will exceed any costs incurred by developing the relationships in the first place.

Knowing who to turn to when you need help

The benefits of business networking are not just about generating sales leads and referrals. How much time have you wasted in the past trying to find the right person or business to solve a problem for you? Have you resorted to looking in the local telephone book for a service or plucked a name off the internet only to be disappointed with the product or service provided? By getting to know reliable contacts who can provide you with what you want or who can be trusted to recommend others is worth so much in terms of your time and money.

Thanks

Are you starting a new business? Or maybe you already have a small business? Whichever is the case you will no doubt have made business plan, forecast your cash flow and probably frightened yourself as to where all your money has gone.

In order to generate new business it's essential to market your business and certainly this can be a very costly business. Advertising is seriously expensive and in my mind it works best for those already with an established brand because it's about recognition and repetition, so unless you're already in the league of Coca Cola it's probably not a good solution.

Business networking is not about a closed shop where everyone gives each other work, it's much more powerful than that. It's fundamentally about the act referring business to people that you have grown to know, like and trust, and for them to do the same for you. Understanding how to give a quality referral is an art itself and something that I cannot cover today so for the time being let's just consider the benefits of business networking.

It is not a well known fact but 70% of new business that your company gets is through word of mouth. Networking allows you to formally explain what your business is about and as fellow networking business people get to know you so you will naturally start to win new sales leads because people like to pass business to people that they know.

Simply attending a networking event will raise your profile especially if you network on a regular basis. Remember my earlier point about advertising; recognition and repetition, attending a regular networking event achieves this.

Not only do you have the opportunity to present your business, you also get to meet with a lot of business people from other walks of life that will inevitably be able to help solve some of your problems. And you will be able to do the same, it's all part of the relationship building process and at the end of the day it's this relationship that counts when recommending someone's services.

You'll also get to know an awful lot of people that will be able to help you when you have a problem. Have you ever picked up the yellow pages and looked for a particular service? How do you choose? It really is hit and miss. By getting to know reliable contacts who can provide you with what you want and who can be trusted is worth so much in terms of your time and money.

Likewise, if there's no one in your network who can help, the chances are that someone knows someone who can and will recommend them. Suddenly you find that your business is moving forward at a much more rapid pace. Your confidence will soar!

Sharing experiences is also part of the game. Just talking to people about their experiences, their goals and their problems will stimulate lots of new ideas and open your mind to new opportunities. All of a sudden you have a completely new approach to doing something or even a new business venture that you may never have otherwise thought of.

Last but not least it's amazing how much satisfaction we all get from helping others. There are many business networking techniques to learn in order to make the most of this style of marketing but once you've understood the basics, give it a little time and I'm sure that you'll soon understand the true power and benefits of networking.

Hi
Generation of referrals /Increased business

Fact – 70% on average of all new business is gained through word of mouth and positive recommendation. As you develop your contacts and build up positive relationships with people you will find that you will naturally gain business and sales leads as people recommend your services. People like to pass business to those they know, like and trust. But this will only happen if you have a network of contacts in the first place.

Raising your profile

Just by expanding your contacts you are raising your profile – people now you exist and know what you do and you will more likely to be thought of if your products or services are required.

Free consultancy and advice

Generally, people like to help people and are willing to impart their expertise and advice to others who they have got to know, like and trust. You will find that as you build relationships with people the value of the help that is passed to you formally or informally will exceed any costs incurred by developing the relationships in the first place.

Thanks