What is Networking?
Networking is the process of expanding a company's commercial influence by establishing business and personal relationships with other professionals, employees, and potential customers, ultimately converting these individuals into customers who purchase your products and services.
What Are the Benefits of Networking?
As known, the most significant development stage for companies is effective PR (Public Relations) activities. PR aims to increase the number of people your company can reach and ensure that these individuals benefit from your products and services. Networking is one of the most effective forms of PR. Here are some benefits of networking categorized by various criteria:
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Opportunity to Meet New People and Obtain References During the networking phase, you have the opportunity to meet many people from different sectors. Typically, the process involves getting to know each other, sharing information about the work done, and planting seeds for future collaborations. Every person you meet has the potential to become a partner, share projects, or simply be a customer.
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Chance to Promote Yourself and Your Brand As mentioned earlier, networking gives you the opportunity to promote yourself and your brand. Thanks to the popular WOM (Word of Mouth) approach, every individual you introduce yourself and your brand to will spread this information to others in their network.
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Ability to Follow Industry Trends Meeting, communicating, and sharing information with other professionals in your sector allows you to stay closely updated on industry developments.
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Assistance in Problem Solving As your network grows, you gain the chance to collaborate with other sectors. In a multifaceted business environment, you will face and need to solve various problems. At this point, you may find the support you need among people you have previously met.
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Opportunity for Information Sharing Sharing knowledge and experience leads to an increase in resources. You can derive insights from the knowledge and experience of individuals you meet and have the chance to share your own knowledge and experience with others.
How to Build a Network?
When building your network, you should pay attention to various criteria to reach and maintain the right portfolio of people:
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Attend the Right Events Before deciding to attend an event, you should examine the attendees and the event’s suitability for networking. Attending events where people are not suitable for business or where communication is difficult can be a waste of time.
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Dress Professionally and Appear Polished When interacting with people, your appearance creates a first impression. Therefore, it is recommended to pay attention to your attire when you are in public.
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Prioritize Face-to-Face Meetings As technology advances, human relationships have also become digital. During networking efforts, however, prioritize face-to-face interactions. Engage personally to build strong foundations for medium and long-term relationships.
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Ensure Mutual Benefit In business, situations that result in one-sided benefits are not sustainable. If one party benefits from you in a particular matter, the situation should be reversed in the future. Aim to create relationships where both parties benefit equally.
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Ask Questions and Listen One major issue in human relations today is our tendency to focus on sharing our own ideas rather than listening to others. Maintain a balance by listening after sharing your thoughts, and show that you are interested in what the other person has to say. This will facilitate dialogue and strengthen your connections.
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Be Prepared Be an expert in your field and anticipate potential questions from new contacts. By preparing responses to common questions, you can provide confident and direct answers, increasing your chances of making a positive impression.
During networking activities, you have the option to securely store data about the people you meet using accessible software. Comwize, with its CRM module, offers detailed portfolio management capabilities, helping you efficiently manage your networking efforts.
