Networking as a business building strategy

Networking is a great business development strategy when done right! But many business owners fail to have a complete strategy for networking! There are several keys that make networking work better!

Networking Key #1:

Messaging. Have a compelling message and call to action when you do your 30 second or 60 second intro. Many business owners say their name, their company and what they do, but they don’t say how they solve the prospects pain. You need to get to the pain and leave some intrigue so that people will want to talk with you. Your goal is to enter into a conversation! When you have a compelling message — then people will walk up to you and say I need to talk with you!! That is what you want. Check out the resources at Compass Rose Consulting and download the template for a highly effective elevator pitch.

Networking Key #2: Your Business Card

The second key is to have a business card that is a lead generation tool. When you buy business cards you are buyiing your very own piece of advertising real estate. BUT, many do not fully utilize that real estate. Include a call to action on the back of the business card that people will want. This is where you can add your special offer. The offer should be an informational report that they can download from your website… which brings us to Key #3; but be sure to download the business card template on the resource page as well: CRC Resources

Networking Key #3: Landing Page With Offer

The business card is leading people to your website or landing page with a compelling offer on it. A special report or informational report that the individual can download. This gets the person on your mailing list and you now have the opportunity to continue to market to them. I have a template for the report on my site as well as the landing page. A landing page is a 3 page website. The page with the offer, the optin confirmation page and the thank you page. The only thing that a person can do is to optin or leave. Most websites are big branding sites that fail to have an offer on them or a way for people to be in touch other than a number and contact us form. Neither of these work effectively. When you add a compelling offer to the site, then you increase your leads and can work on converting leads to clients.

Networking Strategy Key #4

After the optin, you need an email marketing series that goes out to people automatically. This is called an auto-resonder. There are many great programs for auto-responders – Aweber, Get Response, Zoho Campaigns etc. Email follow up is the first step in your followup strategy. But you need a follow up plan along with scripts for you and your staff.

The three steps for using networking effectively are also available in a video training series. You can access the video training series from my Marketing Center. I offer these videos for free at the marketing center on the home page. The Entrepreneur’s Marketing Center itself is a comprehensive training resource that provides a one stop shop for marketing strategies with a focus on the five step profit formula. Everything that we have put together guides you through putting a strategy into action for your business. The resources from ads, to templates, to video training are all there to benefit the members.

Take the networking strategy and see if you are maximizing it for your business. Download the templates in the resource area — they are absolutely complimentary… and tweak what you are doing. Let me know the results that you have. If you need some help — schedule your mini marketing audit with me: Meet With Donna

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