(But know it’s weakness or you will fail with networking too)

Networking really is one of the most powerful ways to generate lots of hot leads, create powerful connections that can open closed doors and simply get what you want in life, and not just in business, but in any situation.

Why is networking so powerful? Well… basically we tend to buy from and recommend people that we know like and trust. Trust has become a bigger and bigger factor because people have experienced so many ads, marketing messages and salespeople that have been overpromising and underdelivering. Our trust in traditional marketing methods have eroded.

Tadaaa …Networking to the rescue.

Business networking succeeds where traditional selling and marketing fails. It’s the perfect way to build trust and it’s my strong conviction that because of the reasons we just talked about it will become a more and more effective way of generating leads and marketing a small to medium sized business.

A network can be like a sales force working for you, referring hot leads to you and talking about how great you are and in most cases they will do it for free.

A network is almost like a website: The bigger and older it gets the better it becomes. If you have a big network you will obviously become influential and then suddenly you will find that people will come running after you to offer you profitable business deals.

But networking has a weakness and you have to know and understand this to have any chance of succeeding at it.

So here it is: IT TAKES TIME. And In two different ways.

First of all it takes time because you can really only do it one by one.

Second: networking takes time because trust will not magically be created after a couple of meetings and trust is what it’s all about.

Hopefully you will not be scared by that fact. You should be concerned about your return on your effort, not about how much effort you put into it.

If someone goes to the gym 2-3 times and expect to suddenly have a body like an athlete you would probably agree that they are delusional, right? Yet people go to networking events a couple of times and expect to have the orders and referrals pouring in.

The return on you business networking efforts can be dramatic if you do it the right way and you do it consistently. When you have created a strong connection and trust to someone who open you up to their network of thousands, tens of thoussands or more.

Or if they just introduce and recommend you to a few very influential and connected people it will be worth the effort many times.

You will get out of networking as much as you put in IF and only IF you do it consistently, but If you expect results NOW you will be disappointed.

One of the greatest things are that you don’t have to be a great sales person , you dont have to do any hard closing, because it’s all about building trust and when people trust you they don’t have to be “SOLD”.

So even if you think you are lousy at selling, networking can give you great results if you are simply consistent and provide value for your connections. In time they will become fans of you and refer tons of prospects and clients to you.

happy networking  – Patrick Powers