Networking Reality

Networking often appears as the start of building relationships with future clients. With luck, you may gain the opportunity to get face-to-face with someone previously unreachable. Too often, however, networking serves as the best “time-waster” posing as a “best practice” for the uninitiated.

In her book, Selling to Big Companies, author Jill Konrath, writes about the myths of using networking as the preferred means to working with large companies. She concludes, “Once I realized the myths of networking, I seized control of my own destiny again. That means I specifically identified the companies I wanted as clients and began an account entry campaign to get an appointment. As soon as I did that, the tide started to turn and business started coming my way.”

Whether you target small to mid size firms or use networking to supplement your new business development process with major firms, make sure you track and evaluate your results. Be ruthless about where and how you spend your networking time. Always strive for quality instead of quantity encounters.

Steps to Networking Success

Armed with a pocket full of business cards, what you do next makes a big difference too. Hopefully you have made notes on the backs of the cards with the date, event name or specific conversation note to jog your memory. Next, turn to BWise. When you tag your new contacts you will determine which ones fit your target market profile, or which will sap your time and energy. You’ll discover critical demographic information as well.

Now you decide which prospects to pursue and through which method: phone, email, postal mail in person or combination. With BWise Drip Marketing, your prospects less ripe for immediate picking can receive automatic email messages while you spend your time on those prospects higher up on the “buying ladder.” Through Drip Marketing you’ll develop a relationship of familiarity with your prospects as well as top of mind status, and an opportunity to build trust.

For those prospects you want to call, use BWise for the critical step of pre-call planning.

Warning: Once you use BWise, you won’t want to network without it.