5 Tips to Improve Your Network and Build Your Business

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Lorraine P Emmanuel, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Relationships are extremely important for your business and career, knowing and cultivating the right relationships can help you make major breakthroughs in both areas.

It’s not about having a large network for your ego, it’s about having the right people in your network and building a genuine relationship with each of them. The larger your network the harder it is to maintain and build that relationship.

But with my top 5 tips, you’ll be able to supercharge your network.Build solid relationships and become the go-to within your circle.

1.Put a System in Place
Everything that works has a good system in place including relationships. Ask a couple who’ve been married for 50 years how they have stayed happy together for that long and I bet what they tell you will work out to be a pretty simple system.

Putting systems in place for your business contacts is even simpler than it is for your personal relationships. For instances when you meet someone at a networking event and they give you their business card, your system for managing this relationship can look something like this.

Step 1: Note down important facts at the back of the business card.
Step 2: Connect on LinkedIn and other Social Media
Step 3: Send a short note to arrange a coffee meetup
Step 4: Think of ways you can help them and do it
Step 5: Regular catch ups via social media, email and in-person

Start to put systems in place to manage your business relationships and see how quickly you start to benefit from your efforts.

2. Give Value First
There is nothing worse than a person you takes, takes and takes some more giving nothing in return. Even worse is someone who meets you for the first time and expects something from you straight away. PLEASE, DON’T BE THAT PERSON.

Instead be the person who gives value first and just lets the karma come back to her. So, when you meet someone new think of how you can help her, what can you give or do that will help them do more, be more or grow more in their business and career.

The easiest way to do this is to ask up front what that person is struggling with right now in their business or career. You might be able to help them out or Introduce them to some who can help.

3. Be a Connector
Being the connector is an extremely valuable asset in any relationship. Think of how many people you can be of value to just by being able to connect them to someone else. Connectors are sought after. If you become known as the person who can either solve a problem or will definitely know someone who can solve that problem, People will recommend you just so you can recommend somebody else. Instantly your network grows quickly as people start coming to you just to be connected to someone else.

To become a connector you need to cultivate you existing relationships and network outside your main industry. It’s always wise to know people who specialise in different things within different industries. Put a list together so you always have someone on hand that you can recommend.

4. Be Curious
Coaches are trained to be more curious, why? Because it helps you to listen fully and just ask questions based on what the person you are talking to has just said. Not on your own personal agenda you’ve cooked up before you entered the room.

Curiosity goes hand in hand with listening skills, cause so many of us just don’t listen fully. We have our own dialogue going on in our head about what to say next, how to say it, is the person I’m talking to looking at the spot on my face. Everything but what is really being said to you.

By being curious a normal networking conversation can turn into a deeper meaningful conversation that can lead to a coffee meeting or lucrative partnerships.

5. Focus on What’s Important
Go beyond small talk and ask why they do what they do. Why’s always give you a clue to the person you are talking to. You learn about why their business is important to them, why they made certain career decisions. And more importantly, it will normally go past business and into something a bit more personal.

Most people’s “whys” are rooted in family, in the community, in something they experienced or witnessed. Knowing they motivation will help you connect and create a foundation that you can build a strong business relationship on.

It’s all about connection, deeper more meaningful connection that takes you pass business to knowing the real person behind the business persona. You get to understand them and their business, be of value and become, the go-to person in your industry.

So, go out there and try a few of these tips and create strong relationships that will help you and your business progress quickly.