There are many benefits related to attending networking events. As a business person, you may consider joining some type of local business referral group or networking group. Your purpose would be getting referrals that will lead to new clients. The problem is that if you join a networking group thinking only about what you’ll get then you may not get much.
You can benefit the most from joining a business referral group by helping others in the group. For example, when you go in with the idea of referring business to others in the group. Consequently, the law of reciprocity says that when we help others, they want to help us. In fact, we make others feel obligated to help us if we have helped them. If I join a networking group because I want people to refer people that they know that might need a website, it would help if I referred someone to them first.
For instance, maybe at one of the local networking events a new member joins, let’s say it is a CPA. I refer my friend to the CPA and now because of the law of reciprocity the CPA starts thinking about all of her clients and who she knows that might need a website. There may be 30 or 40 other people in this business referral group but the CPA is busy thinking about who needs a website because I referred a client to her and now she feels obligated to help me out by sending me one of her clients. We’ve all heard the old saying, “It is better to give than to receive” and we have found that the more people you help to get what they want, the more people there will be that will help you to get what you want.
Getting new word of mouth referrals that lead to new business seems like it may be the primary benefit to joining a business networking group and there are plenty of other very good reasons to join and attend as many networking events as possible.
When we attend networking events everyone expects us to approach them and begin speaking with them. This is very different from social settings where we don’t know people and it can feel very uncomfortable to start speaking with strangers. For example, you don’t know people at a bar and it can be akward to just start talking. At a bar if you begin speaking with someone you don’t know it can be interpreted as being flirtatious. Conversly, at networking events when you are part of a local business referral group it is normal. As a result we expect any man or woman to begin speaking with anyone else in the group. Nothing about that would appear to be flirtatious at all. In fact, a good business referral group encourages these interactions. Some groups even offer training on how to be better at networking with other business owners.
The training will also include specific instruction on how to interact with the others in the networking group. There is also training on how to conduct productive face to face meetings with others in the group. For instance you would be prepared for the face to face meeting with this training in mind. In fact, you’d have notes in hand about the other person. You would be given a list of questions as a guide to learn more about the other person. You may normally feel very introverted in social settings. Consequently you’d find that joining a business referral group is non-threatening. As a result, it becomes a huge boost to your confidence because everyone is trained on the benefits of getting to know each other. For that reason, an introvert finds that everyone wants to set up face to face meetings. Consequently, they learn more about them and their business in a very casual, yet structured and non-threatening way.