Networking Advice

Cynthia

Hello everyone,
I am looking for some general advice you have on networking. Do you belong to associations? Do you network online?
Thanks.
Cynthia

LogoMotives

Hi Cynthia -

With 85-90% of my business outside of my home state most of my
networking is done online.  I do belong to my local neighborhood
business organization just to support the community.  I have no desire
to participate in any of our local Chambers of Commerce.  The industry
writing aspect of my business is supported by belonging to, and participating in, nationwide
design industry organizations.  I do get a great deal of potential business coming my way through participation in online forums.- J.

keycon

Cynthia,
Jeff and I have both been here at SuN for awhile now and we both operate an established business - I always love to read Jeff`s posts. I don`t know where you are in your VA business development so forgive me if some of what I state is old news to you. This question has come up before on the forum but I did a search and could not quickly find the threads.
First off, I recommend to make "networking" a part of your daily routine. I believe a good business person is ALWAYS networking. Here`s a little story. I worked for Delta Air Lines in a previous life. The founder, C.E. Woolman, is said to have always had a flight timetable in his pocket. If anyone he met even mentioned going somwhere, he could tell them when Delta went there. That philosophy carried over to employees for generations (I won`t comment on the company`s present situation - I`ve been gone from there a long time).
Everyone you meet is a potential client or a potential advertiser for you and your company and your services. Never miss an opportunity to promote your company, yourself, and your services. Here`s the good thing ... the more you do it, the better your presentation gets. The more you talk about your business and services, the more ideas on ways to promote it and networking will come into your head, too. It just works.
Develop answers to people`s questions to fit your business and services into any opportunity that presents itself. Become a good storyteller (and I don`t mean lies). I agree with Jeff - your business can be networked online. It can also be networked at the Chamber of Commerce and other local associations and organizations. There isn`t any place you can not network - IMHO.
No matter where you network, have a plan. Have scripts written in your mind or on paper. If somethings works, keep a log or journal of "successes". Speaking of logs/journals, keep an "idea" log. Keep a "humor" journal. Keep a journal of "boo-boos." You`ll be surprised as to what you can learn when you read back over these journals.
In your chosen field of VAs, client contact and"touchpoint" marketing is important. Stay in touch. Send cards, postcards. Remember birthdays, anniversaries, spouse birthdays, kid`s birthdays - whatever. You can set yourself apart by being remembered as one who remembers. 25 years of experience tells me it works. Take it for what it is worth.
Wishing you much success!
R@
PS - an afterthought addition ... I suggest you remove the page on your website about pricing and think about adding some information about value and benefits of a VA. If you sell on price alone, you become a commodity. You are not a commodity item. Think about your potential clients and their "pain" - explain it to them - tell stories on your website - make THEM want YOU.  Identify their pain and you`ll set the hook ... then you can "negotiate." keycon2006-10-25 22:32:21

rexiedexie

Hi Cynthia
I find networking is easy as you can join many good networking communities and make contacts with the friendly members and share ideas on all business issues.
My favorites groups are Adlandpro and RYZE. I also enjoy writing at Writingup 
Cynthia visit my networking page to see some of my networking communities.
http://www.networking.love-au.com/</A>
There are thousands of members you can contact via group, interest group or location.
 

epeters

Hi Cynthia -With 85-90% of my business outside of my home state most of my networking is done online.  I do belong to my local neighborhood business organization just to support the community.  I have no desire to participate in any of our local Chambers of Commerce.  The industry writing aspect of my business is supported by belonging to, and participating in, nationwide design industry organizations.  I do get a great deal of potential business coming my way through participation in online forums.- J.
What agood Idea! Didn`t think of that. I do MLM and have had signups from postings I`ve made. Another way I promote is through articles online. I`m also starting to use solo ads and post my article to ezines.

Mansoor

Talking about networking with friendly people, I am sure that we all agree that we need to keep in touch with the contacts, We get persons with whom we can start networking even in email signatures, we dont add these leads to our database, reason being we are so occupied with our routine tasks that we cant fill out each field in our database.
There are software tools that can help you if you are in the net working process, contact gets added directly without manual typing, all you need todo is just highlight the contact information and one click transfers the details into the database.
Mansoor.   www.egrabber.com/addressgrabberbusiness/index.html</A>
 

epeters

Where do I sign up for that?!! I`m sick of having to put all my leads in by hand. It takes forever.