Networking: Why You’re (Probably) Doing it Wrong!

A lot of people confuse networking with socializing. While socializing with the right people can create a networking opportunity, simply getting out there and meeting up with other business owners and prospective customers is not networking. Let’s break down the meaning of this word so that we truly understand it and appreciate its real power!

net-work-ing noun
defined as: the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business

Just think about the word itself: net-work

A good analogy might be to think about how a fisherman uses a net in his line of work:

• The net is used to surround and then scoop up fish (marketing)
• A smart fisherman uses his nets strategically; he puts his nets out in places where he believes that specific kinds of fish will be, at specific times (targeted marketing, strategically timed and targeted based on knowledge and experience)
• The last thing that he wants is to pull in his nets only to find them empty (marketing that produces no results and is therefore a waste of valuable resources)
• Nor does he want to find them filled with sea creatures other than the ones he specifically wants to catch (marketing to those outside of ideal client target market, with the effect that the people responding to your marketing lack either the means or desire for your product or services)

Now we’re getting somewhere!

According to Wikipedia.org (at least as of today!) business networking is a “socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity.” The purpose of networking in business is – or at least should be – to facilitate the building of new business relationships and to generate business opportunities (at the same time).

Networking is more than attending meetings with other business owners or showing up at events where prospects might be in attendance. Effective networking is purposeful. It either involves working together with peers to help improve the business climate in your community or it involves being present, visible and alluring in the same places as are your target market/s prospects or ideal types of clients.

Maybe that’s why so many business professionals give up on networking or put it on the bottom of their priority list; they’ve been doing it wrong! Now that you have a better understanding of what networking is (and isn’t), how are you going to put this tactic to work to help build business?