~by Haley Lynn Gray~.

Network marketing is one of the most powerful and fastest ways to build relationships and get clients for your business. There are a number of networking meetings and opportunities out there. Finding the right ones will be super important for the success of your business.

Don’t rely on attending meetings just to get clients.

You’ll need to follow up with people and schedule one-on-one meetings with every member of each group after the networking meetings. This will give you the chance to learn more about how you can help each other with your businesses and to find out what kinds of referrals you can send to each other. You shouldn’t try to sell anything on the first meeting. Instead, you should work on getting to know people and understand their businesses.  

I see a lot of people who to go one or two networking meetings, and then when they don’t get clients immediately, they get frustrated. Truth is, you have go and continually work on building relationships with people rather than focusing on just showing up at the networking meetings. Until you find the right match and the right actions, you may encounter some problems.

The first problem is that you may be in a group that, for whatever reasons, is a poor fit for your business. The second problem is that if you just interact with someone for 30 seconds, you’re unlikely to actually trust them enough to send business to them. After all, all things being equal, people do business with other people they know, like, and trust. Thirty seconds isn’t going to do that for you, no matter how amazing you are.  

So that said, how in the heck do you find networking meetings?

The answer is that you can start connecting on Facebook, through BNI, SCORE, and Meetup.com, just to name a few. In addition to strictly business networking meetings, you can also tap into your church, and also into alumni associations and fan groups. Depending on the nature of your business and who your ideal clients are, some of these may make a better natural fit than others. For someone who sells to a lot of end users, an alumni group may be an ideal fit. For a business that primarily does business with other businesses, you’ll want to stick with a more business-focused group.  

Since networking is about consistency, and that “know-like-trust” factor, I highly recommend that you choose a group whose meetings are convenient for you and that you can attend each time. If you can’t ever actually go to the meetings, they’re a bit pointless.  

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Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray

Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.

Haley is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl. She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.

Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.

Connect with Haley:

• • Work with Haley
  • Facebook Page: @Leadershipgirl
  • LinkedIn: Haley Lynn (Wilson) Gray