Networking which is among the most attractive terms in recent years is a process to expand the individuals you know. Networking which is especially vital for today’s individuals is important as individuals want to be successful in the business world. In today’s business world, individuals with strong communication skills and benefits to the social environment are considered to have good leadership skills. This leads to positive results both for employment and promotions.
So, in this article, we talked about what is networking.
What is networking?
Networking is about meeting and sustaining communication with individuals working in the same field as you are or who have the potential to work in the same field as you are.
The basis of networking is mutual benefits. It is about getting to know as many individuals as you can including professionals, employees and your friends in your social environment. The main purpose here is to talk about and promote yourself and your work to other people and gain individuals who are actually potential customers.
Also, since we have a system of mutual benefit, helping other people is one of the responsibilities of individuals when networking.
Pure advertisement and marketing purpose in the networking process is not an accurate or professional approach. If an entrepreneur or a professional employee adopts an open and clean promotion mission in networking process management, the desired relationships and contacts are not possible. Of course, one of the main purposes to build a network is for your business to be noticed by other people.
But your purpose is to introduce yourself rather than your business and therefore, to get people to know about what you do. Therefore, a network should not be considered as a pure marketing model and the communication dimension should be more dominant.
Networking can be expressed as expanding your business network. Therefore, it is important to notify your network about your work life and what you do. Thus, it is possible to grow your existing business or to get a stronger position in your current firm.
There are multiple advantages of having such relationships. We will list some of the key benefits below.
What are the advantages of networking?
With your network, you will get the chance to form relationships that will not only benefit your business life but also your social life. The first stage of this process might be challenging and the first network contacts for an inexperienced individual might be a failure. But when you move forward to reach your target, you can be a successful network leader and have a good portfolio. Before talking about how you can do that, let’s talk about the advantages.
Meeting with new people will add color to your life
Every person is a treasure. You need to approach them and get to know them to understand this. In this process, new stories to be inspired as well as experiences, losses, gains and various stories will add an important richness to the individual’s perspective. Meeting with new people and keeping in touch with them will provide you important advantages to get new ideas, to be a part of new projects and to get new business references.
Helps you to follow the sector
If you want to be successful in your sector, you need to follow and analyze it. You will always need the backstage talk to be the leader and the best way to do this is the communication with the sector professionals. Thus, you will get to know a lot of things and it is possible to predict the possible changes and gains.
You will get a good team to solve the problems
You might need to consult individuals to solve some problems in your business life or even social life. Everyone needs this but it might be hard for some people to reach those who you need to consult. The network you build will facilitate reaching professionals and solving your problems.
A knowledge that is not shared is no longer important. It is not possible to measure its power. Therefore, transferring your experience and knowledge to other people is important to discover the points for development and the size of the power. You can both get and share information with a network. The chances for different ideas and projects increase in this information pool. This will have a significant contribution to self-development, creativity in business life and getting a promotion.
How to create a network?
The most convenient places for networking are meetings, seminars, networking events, fairs and similar environments. Of course, since most people are involuntary about where and how to start in these types of events, they go back home without making a single contact even in the most entertaining seminar. But the main principle for networking is to be a good communicator. We can even call that a warrior communicator. What we mean by warrior here is to break all the chains that drag us down from communication. So, how can you create a network?
Smiling is the most fundamental rule and fuel of communication
It is important to participate in a seminar or a similar event like a journalist or have a soul like that. Because a journalist wants to get information for news. Imitating a journalist who developed a special reflection to find out the interesting things to make the article readable will help you go over the communication barrier at the networking stage. Because the target of a journalist is to find content and therefore, the journalist only focuses on looking for information. The journalist can communicate easily and just listens after asking questions. This is the rule for networking: Smile, ask questions, listen, continue.
Be the one who arrives earlier, not a latecomer
Being late to a meeting is a huge loss. In this case, it will be harder to direct the dialogues to your side. Also, it will make it harder to be included in the speeches in the meeting for a new individual. Going to the events such as seminars early and being the first person to contact newcomers will facilitate your communication practices.
Make a plan and set a goal
You got the news of an event. There are some important and good speakers for your industry. You need to make a good plan before going to the seminar. You need to clarify at least how many people you need to speak to in the seminar and how long you should stay. Thus, you can better use your time in the seminar.
Do not attend any event without a business card
Your identity in a networking event is your business card. Communicating without your identity in this type of event means starting from the back. When you answer “No.” to “Can I get your business card?” after a good conversation can wreck your entire image. Therefore, you need to have as many business cards as you can by considering this situation.
Don’t forget to get notes
You might create a good impression if you take note of the ideas and news of the speaker to show that you are interested. Also, you can note the stories you like during the speech. This way it will be easier to talk to that person when you see him. You can build the roots of your relationship.
Should you care about the numbers?
The main target of networking is to include the individuals whom you believe to be beneficial to your network. Instead of meeting a lot of new people, it is possible to have higher benefits when you meet few but effective individuals. Of course, it might be hard to predict what people will have to offer. You might not see the desired communication or help from an individual whom you believed to work out pretty well. But you must not be afraid of trying and remember to push your limits.
Keeping in touch
After getting business cards or phone numbers after the meeting, speaking and conversation, you can think that the first stage was a success. But another important thing about networking is to correctly manage the second stage. Not having a plan at the keeping in touch stage means your network will lose its dynamism. Therefore, you should try to make yourself remembered by keeping in touch on special days and occasions.
Conclusion
As a result, networking is a formation that will benefit you both in your business life and social life. Having references can contribute to the individuals to be successful in the business life and to develop new projects. Remember that you need to be a good communicator to establish a good network.