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Professional visibility online & offline – getting it right
Being visible in today's world is vital to maintaining sustainability in your business.
You want potential clients to find you easily, tell their friends, actively promote your products and services
You can be the best, however new client’s wont flock to you if they get tired looking for you.
When people start to look for a product or service they search online.
It's vital to your brand & marketing to understand how to achieve maximum results from your website and social media
You want clients who will return to you time and time again and instantly recognise your brand.
We show (or teach) you to understand how to successfully brand and market your business and build know, like and trust relationships
We invite you on this journey to work together.
Click on "How To" in the menu to get started.
Business Networking that works FOR and not against you
Gill Fountain • September 16, 2019
Start the build of the know, like and trust relationships we use before buying
I started networking before it was even labeled Business Networking, at Rotary we met and dined with business owners weekly. I had been in business more than a decade before joining, however I learnt a lot from forming friendships with the larger business owners around the table and as 'Ladies' who had only just been allowed to become members - we were treated, and taught well.
How you can overcome the challenges of Business Networking and not spend a fortune. it's not what you think!
Indeed getting it right and attracting people in the room who want to work with you is an art. These days I rarely come away from a networking event without any new contacts, however, working on a wish and a prayer is not the answer. Yes personality for sure, comes into it, giving room to allow others to speak and encouraging new business owners to find their voice, inviting them to connect, also plays a large part.
With 26 networking groups and growing in and around Basingstoke, there is not enough time in the month to get to all of them. None are what I would call a waste of time, however, some give me better chances of gaining business, as long as I alter my approach for each one and don't go into a room intent on selling. It's a strange fact that the less you push for a sell, the more you sell.
Wait, there's more!
As you become more known you will receive invites, there are many events you can attend that cost you nothing except your time. Meetings to sample as a visitor, without signing up, requests to speak, guest blog, join in a workshop, a joint venture, an introduction, a referral. Not every idea or offer will be suitable however - some may.
All came with the chance of opening up opportunities, I had never dreamed of.
If you visit Basingstoke Business Club held at our local college and came along to sell, you would be massively disappointed and no-one would sell to you. Yes, a networking meeting where there is hardly any selling, simply friends, old and new having breakfast, talking briefly about their business, putting forward ideas and asking for advice.
You will often hear the phrases,
has anyone got any ideas on how I do this. What do you think, shall I do that and I can put you in touch with ....
It is the same at #LinkedinlocalBasingstoke the majority of visitors haven't physically met before however, I noticed they have already connected and commented on each other's posts on LinkedIn, showing a willingness to help each other.
We receive wonderful feedback via social media, - these guys are not stupid they are aware that every touch they make even is its seen as supporting others is helping to raise their profile.
"It was a great evening and a very powerful form of networking- see you next month."
Kate O'Neill VA, Basing PA Services
"Wonderful to see you all and have a really positive and meaningful chat with like minded business professionals ."
Irene Rosenblatt Founder of Luxury Partners
"What a brilliant evening I love that we had time to get to know one another and discuss various topics including how to insure property abroad despite risks of land slips and hurricanes (who knew) and speaking failures, creating websites from scratch with excellent SEO, promoting authors (event next week) book keeping and strategic connections and running a VA (virtual assistant) business that works for you :) oh and then there was the guest speaker - ME! And I used these to explain my Empowerment Model" Kim Searle of Kim Searle - Supporting The Busy, Overwhelmed, Stressed or Anxious Professional, develop Mental & Emotional Balance
These guys are not stupid they are aware that every touch they make even is its seen as supporting others is helping to raise their profile.
This is one way to start to build that know, like and trust and suddenly the opportunities start to open up. The tips flow and if you are listening for the opportunities that are almost sneaked into a conversation, you and your business will flourish.
For me, everything starts with networking, and a follow up in any shape or form, gets the ball rolling.
There will be some who never return your calls or respond to you messages, maybe at this point they are not your clients, however, we never know where their business will lead to, who they will talk to. Keeping them on a slow back burner does no harm.
Below are figures taken from observations from networking, business owners feel they are successful, who dread their 60 seconds speech, even though they have it written down to aid them and the ones that feels they messed up their meeting because they stumbled over words.
Take a look, could you use something like this graph to give more value to your blog and appeal to those people who love facts and figures
Good luck in your own Business networking and if you want any help, why not book a free 30 mins discovery call and ask those annoying questions that stop you from promoting your business and getting seen.
We CAN help you to increase your visibility on and offline!
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Join us on the first Thursday of every month at Bromsgrove Sporting FC for Coffee & Natter, free business networking from Pathway2Grow. March 2020 Gill Fountain 38Partnership
