OFFLINE BUSINESS NETWORKING TECHNIQUE
Once when I was wandering through the streets I saw a strange thing happening. There was a chef in the corner of the street with one
of his delicacies and tons of pamphlets. As I passed through the street he offered me a taste of his delicacy along with many other people on the street. After I tasted the delicacy and complimented him for the same he handed me the pamphlet which had the address of his newly opened restaurant. Needless to say I was there that night having the same food and I suppose there were many like me too. As I sat writing today about offline business networking technique I could not help but remember this incident as this was a masterstroke. Masterstroke for the following two things:
- By giving me a delicacy to taste he was showing the confidence that people will like the food. Also he demonstrated about the quality of the food and offering it free of cost he was building trust among the people.
- He was not only giving us something to taste and savor he was offering us a glimpse into his personality. For his enthusiasm and charm rubbed among most of us that day and till date I frequent to his place and I am friends with him.
These two things as I now realize are very important part of a successful business networking technique. First and foremost you have to make the client confident that your product is one of the best if not the best that is on offer. The second thing is to know client personally so that you can share lifelong patronage from some of your clients. These two aside there are many other things that can be done so that you can promote your business.
Make pamphlets of your business and display the most promising part of the business, what are you offering? Having done that you can try sending these pamphlets at gas stations (almost everyone visit the gas station and hence chances of your getting noticed becomes more). You can also try and drop these pamphlets in the newspaper drop boxes. Granted these techniques do not produce great results but even if you are able to get some clients the rest will follow by word of mouth publicity.
If you are a novice then the problem gets compounded because there are bigger fishes in the sea and you have to battle them all to get noticed. One thing that can be done in this case is that you can try and gain entry in the group consisting of members from your profession. By gaining an entry you will get to know your rivals, their strengths and weaknesses and most of you can build your niche image. You will also learn what have been tried before and which strategy will pay rich dividends. You may not gain all this easily and may have to work hard but then there is no other alternative.
