Networking for
developing your business and getting sales
Most people recognize that in
business it's not just about what you know - it's who you know.
Anyone who's run a business knows
it can be lonely at the top. Continually grappling with issues that impact
the future of your team members and company is neither easy nor glamorous.
However, help is available.
Networking may not offer
structured programs, but the contacts you develop may connect you with
business peers facing similar challenges who can give you the chance to test
your ideas and resolve issues.
There are numerous options for
experiencing the benefits of belonging to interest groups, roundtable think
tanks or industry associations.
By having a commitment to
constantly improving your network of contacts you can expect benefits such as
gaining access to an informal “board” of advisers offering years of business
experience, developing valuable business relationships, exchanging your
management skills and ideas with peers and picking up hints on avoiding
business roadblocks and common mistakes.
The importance of networking and
how it is put into effect depends somewhat on whether you operate in the
business-to-business sector compared to the business-to-consumer arena.
In business-to-business, networking
is more likely to lead directly to sales and positive word-of-mouth
promotion. If you are a marketing consultant networking among small business
people who are all potential clients, every contact represents potential new
business.
In the business-to-consumer
sector, networking is more important for support and guidance regarding
business issues. A local gym owner networking within his local Chamber of
Commerce may pick up an occasional new member, but is more likely to find his
networking valuable for gaining insights into such things as local government
business policies or local business conditions.
There are industry associations
that coordinate more formal discussions where participants set their own
agenda so that they get the information they need and the advice they want.
Some groups prefer open and informal discussions while others select a
specific issue to talk about. Recurring hot topics of interest include
personnel issues, health care costs, technology challenges, managing growth,
and marketing and investment strategies.
Guidelines for effective
networking include the following:
Have a genuine liking for
people
Good networkers are normally
people who like reaching out to other people. It is important to have an
interest in others and be willing to learn about their business, their
industry and the challenges they face.
Get into groups that make up
your target market
If you are a marketing
consultant, getting involved in a local kindergarten group will probably not
be of great value, whereas joining a local branch of Rotary where the members
are all traders and managers may be very useful. The groups you choose to be
in (keeping in mind that most business owners or managers can’t afford the
time to be in more than two or three groups) need to be lively, vibrant and
relevant to you.
Contribute to these groups in
practical ways
If you are in a group solely for
what you can get out of it, it will become obvious and unappealing to other
members. You need to contribute in some way, show that you can get things
done efficiently and become an active member of the group. After that, you
just have to let it happen. Worthwhile networking will take place in its own
time.
Go out of your way to help
When you are talking with
individuals, and the occasion arises, offer to help. On a particular
occasion, the conversation may turn to problems with printing services. If
you happen to know a local printer who gives you outstanding service, offer
to provide his contact details. It’s a small act on your part, but it can
mean much to someone else.
Follow up
When you meet someone whom you
want to develop a relationship with for the first time, follow up soon
afterwards. Meet for a coffee or forward a relevant newspaper article that
may interest them. Similarly, if you offer to provide information, be sure to
follow up. Being reliable and becoming known as reliable is an essential
ingredient when developing a network.
Marketing Tip:
implementing one-to-one marketing
The long established principle of
listening carefully to customers might have a new name, but one-to-one
marketing is one of the most effective ways of developing profitable
relationships with customers.
Relationship marketing is being
talked about everywhere. Marketing specialists and owners of small to medium
businesses are continually being urged to find more effective ways to develop
relationships with their customers.
In an ideal world, every
enterprise would be able to emulate the corner grocer. He knew all his
customers, usually by name, and he stored relevant information about them all
in his head. Today, it is not so simple. The world is far more complex.
Essentially, one-to-one marketing
involves four separate steps:
- identifying your customers;
- differentiating your customers;
- interacting cost-effectively with your customers;
and
- individualizing the treatment that you give your
customers.
All marketing requires massive
amounts of attention to detail. In the case of one-to-one marketing, all four
of these steps have to be implemented carefully before worthwhile results are
possible.
Identify your customers
To have a relationship with an
individual, your first task is to identify individual customers. In a call
center, on your website, or wherever the first point of contact may be, it is
important to make every effort to unfailingly identify people as quickly and
as cost-effectively as possible.
In many situations an investment
in caller-ID technology is a sound move. It is important that customer
records can be quickly made available to the customer service representatives
who answer the phones.
On your website, provide a
benefit of one kind or another to people who register themselves. Such a
benefit could relate to future purchases or maybe more personalized
information.
To identify your customers, you
need to use every possible opportunity for winning personal data from
otherwise anonymous buyers and inquirers.
Differentiate your customers
A pillar of one-to-one marketing
is to acknowledge that different customers have different needs. In the
lead-up to developing a relationship you need to get a clear picture of where
a customer fits into the overall hierarchy of values and find out what this
customer needs that may be different from other customers.
Rudimentary segmentation is
essential (eg, do they want a sports car or a 4WD?). Over time, more
sophistication can be worked into the segmentation (eg, do they want a large
4WD or a small one, American, Japanese or European?). From the start you must
at the very least differentiate on the basis of profitability.
You should always record the
source of acquisition. It can be significant in analysis you do down the line
that indicates which marketing initiatives are the most effective for
attracting new customers who stay with you over the long haul.
Interact cost-effectively with
your customers
At this point it is good to drive
more and more routine requests into self-service channels, which can
significantly free up your call center, for example. Call center operators
can then spend more time pre-qualifying prospects to ensure personal sales
calls are more effective.
Promote your website address to
callers on hold when all your service reps are busy. Also, measure critical
elements such as the ratio of complaints settled on the first call and the
ratio of incoming leads converted to sales calls.
Individualize the treatment
that you give your customers
Today, technology empowers you to
create a customized product by combining a product or service from dozens, or
hundreds, of pre-configured modules. In one way or another, that’s what has
to be done. The days of Henry Ford’s “you can paint it any color, so long as
it’s black,” are long gone.
If you can’t individualize the
package you are offering, a competitor (somewhere) surely will. And your
customers – courtesy of the Internet – will know where to find that
competitor.
These are the essential four
steps of one-to-one marketing. It must always be a common sense approach.
After all, one-to-one marketing is founded on the long established principles
of listening carefully to your customers and trying to accommodate them as
best you can.
How To Make The
Most Of Your Newsletter
Be sure to read each article with
the mindset “How could this apply to our business.” Thinking of it that way
will guarantee that you get value. Better yet, take notes as you read and
commit to having the ideas implemented by the time the next edition arrives.
Also, make copies for each team member. To really make sure something
positive happens, work with your business development specialist to talk your
team through the ideas and how to set a schedule for getting them
implemented. We’re here to help you get started.
Memorable
Quotation
“The first rule is to keep an
untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for
what they are.”
- Marcus Aurelius
An Important Message
While every effort has been made
to provide valuable, useful information in this publication, this firm and
any related suppliers or associated companies accept no responsibility or any
form of liability from reliance upon or use of its contents. Any suggestions
should be considered carefully within your own particular circumstances, as
they are intended as general information only.
