Create an effective networking strategy

Networking can help you generate new sales leads, deepen connections with existing contacts - leading to more business - and learn useful information about your markets, resulting in more relevant services. So why do so many businesses do it in such an ad-hoc way? Heather White of Smarter Networking explains how strategic networking could give you an edge over the competition

We train thousands of businesses every year and we always ask our delegates, "Who has a networking strategy?"  Would it surprise you that more than 80 per cent of businesses we ask do not have a networking strategy?  They may have some sort of marketing or business plan. Yet ask them how much of their business comes from referrals, word-of-mouth recommendation and direct networking and you will find that more than 80 per cent typically comes from these sources. So, if you don't have a large marketing budget and your source of business comes from people you know, you need a networking strategy.

The fact is networking is one of the most cost-effective routes to market. Done well, it can generate a surprisingly high proportion of your new business - some accomplished networkers have even reported figures of 90 per cent and more.

Follow the five steps below to develop a practical and straightforward networking strategy that will work for your business - and fit on a sheet of A4 paper.

Step 1: Identify your reasons to network 

To create a successful networking strategy, you need to be clear about why you want to network in the first place. Use the questions below as a guideline to create a list of reasons, and put them in order of importance.

• Is it to find new business and new contacts?
  • If yes, how urgent is it?
  • To retain and or build key accounts?
  • To break into a new sector?
  • To find new clients and or introducers?
  • To benefit from a support organisation, such as a staff association or a trade body?

• Is your networking for career development?
  • If yes, how urgent is it?
  • To find another job within your company?
  • To find another job with another company?
  • To go self employed/run your own business in the future?
  • To find a sponsor/mentor?

• Is it to position yourself as an expert or a champion?
  • Within your market?
  • With your peer group?

• Is it to set up a team of experts?

• Is it to increase your knowledge?
  • About your market?
  • About specific industry issues?
  • About the factors that influence your customers' buying decisions?

• Is it to strengthen relationships with colleagues and employees?
  • To know more about how your business is operating?
  • To find out what issues might be affecting performance within your business?
  • To understand better how your colleagues and employees interact with each other - and with people outside the business?
  • To motivate your team?

Step 2:  Decide where to direct your energies

When considering your reasons to network, it's important to establish how much of your networking time and effort you should devote to your different goals. For example:

• How much of your networking should focus on finding new contacts and how much should be spent building relationships with existing contacts?
• How much of your networking effort should be spent developing internal relationships (colleagues and employees) and how much should you give to external ones (clients and contacts)?
• How urgent is each of your networking goals?

For example:

Step 3: Work out how many contacts you need

Every successful person I know has a contact base of people they have known for years. Some they do business with, others are specialists, many are friends and introducers. Whenever you meet a very interesting person, it's worth seeing them as a potential contact for life.

Some relationships, however, will have a necessarily short span - it may be that they are specific stepping-stones towards your medium- and long-term goals. Estimate the number of contacts you will need to achieve your networking goals.

For example:

Step 4:  Identify the people you should network with

It would be fair to say that a typical small-business owner/manager would need a network of 60-100 people to achieve their networking goals. It's critical that you find the right contacts; if you happen to like them, too, that's a bonus.

There might be several steps involved in tracking down the best contacts for you.

• Do you know the names of the people you need to develop better relationships with?
  • Have you already met this person?
  • Can you arrange to meet them?
  • How would you rate your relationship?
  • Are you clear where you want to take this relationship?
  • Are you clear how they see you?

• If you don't know the people you need to know by name, do you know their job titles? For example, Head of Operations or Sales Director.

• If you want to meet people who can introduce you to their contacts, make a list of those you already know. Who makes the best introducers for you? Classic introducers include accountants, bank managers, non-executive directors, and so on.

• List the types of business you want to meet or specific company names.

• List the membership organizations you should join.

Step 5: Review and take action

Take another look at your networking plan and think about:

• Your reasons why you want to network. Are they still valid?
• Your priority areas. Will these get you to your goals quickly?
• Whether you have a reasonable split between internal and external networking?
• Whether you have a reasonable split between developing existing contacts and finding new contacts.
• A deadline for achieving each of your networking goals.

You are now ready to network!