January for business owners means delving into the sea of networking events again. Take your pick of charity galas, executive breakfasts, power luncheons and business after hours. If you attend many of these events, you may cause your business network to expand (in addition to your waistband). If you don’t attend enough, you may miss out on some great opportunities to reach your ideal market. Are networking events worth the time and effort to build your business? Survey says…yes, if you follow my lead.
The issue that many business owners have with networking is spending additional time after these events conclude to make new connections work. You can’t walk in, shake a few hands and secure a business deal on sight (well, not usually). The time and expense spent commuting, in addition to your admission fee, your opportunity cost of being present at an event vs. selling products or services and the energy needed to stay engaged only adds up to about 30% of the work needed to secure a new client.
There is a method to increase your initial efforts from 30% to 60%, and it does not include hiring someone to do sales on your behalf. The 30/60/90 Marketing Tactic requires three things: a complete LinkedIn profile, a smartphone and a business card.
To read Part 2, click here.
