For every business, networking is one of the most important tools as in business many times it doesn’t matter what you know but it matters who you know. Well, many businessmen look to master the art of leveraging their network. So, we are here today with 5 tips to leverage your network to grow your venture.
Maintain Quality
When it comes to growing your business network it can be overwhelming to expand your network. However, it is important to remember that it is not just about connecting with a large number of people. Often it happens that you accept all the connection requests that you get and decide to follow them leading to a list of connections who might not even share similar interests.
It is true that having a big network is helpful in a business but it only makes sense if you maintain a meaningful relationship with the people you connect with. On the other hand, when you have a quick scan before making a connection, like checking whether the people have a similar interest or have the same field, you tend to connect to people who are actually beneficial.
So, it is important that you pay attention to the quality people rather than the quantity when you look to expand your business network. Connecting to the people relevant to your business is always beneficial as it becomes easy for you to maintain a relationship with them.
Connect With Important People
It is very easy to find people who share a similar interest but is everyone with a similar interest going to benefit your business? Well, as discussed earlier, it is important to connect to people with similar interests but along with that, it is also important to connect to the important people that will help strengthen your business network.
Once you identify strong connections that will help strengthen your network, all you have to do is seek ways to connect with them. Do not hesitate to approach new people especially when it is for your own benefit. Connect with such people and maintain a good relationship with them.
Offer Help
Offering help or assistance is one of the best ways to establish a relationship with people. Keep an eye on how people function and what are the things they need, and how you can be helpful. Let’s say you need help with something and someone from your network offers to help you out with it, won’t you be happy?
Well, similarly, when you offer to help others with their problems it forms a base for good relationships. You can always share your virtual business card with people who need your help. However, when you help someone make sure that you don’t hope for anything in return, this will help maintain your business standards and help you stand out from the crowd.
Don’t Hesitate To Ask For Help
Just like you shouldn’t think twice before helping someone, asking for help when required is also important. Many may find it embarrassing to ask for help but it is always better to ask for help than make a mistake. When your business network is trustworthy there is no need for you to hesitate to ask for help as you would have a network full of people who can help you out.
Apart from that, when someone helps you and you don’t find their opinion useful, do not react to it immediately and try to accept a different perspective. When you have an open mindset and room for different perspectives, you can make decisions easily as you will be able to think in more than one way. So, listening always helps, be a good listener.
Follow Up
Making connections is not enough and so following up is important. When we talk about networking, it becomes important that one develops the ability to follow up regularly. We live in a world that runs so fast, people don’t have enough time to look after their own health and peace.
Living in such a rush, it becomes important to take out a little time and reach out to your connections if you want to maintain your connection. After all, people will remember you only if they have an interaction every once in a while. So, do not skip following up on your connections as you will be able to leverage your network only if your connections are in touch with you.