A guide to networking
Growing your business is about building relationships with people. The wider your networks, the more successful your business will be, as the people you know and in turn the people they know are sources of ideas, knowledge and potential new business.

But many of us find networking very hard work and struggle to find something to talk about. Plus, nothing is more off-putting than someone showing his or her business card under your nose and trying to sell you something within 5 minutes of meeting!

So here are out Top Ten Tips for successful networking:

• Be prepared to invest time to network with new people
• Believe in what you are doing and be enthusiastic
• Listen and ask questions
• Look at your business from their perspective, not yours
• Mirror body language of the person you are talking to
• See the opportunities and mentally make a note. Make a written note later and keep their contact details
• Get them to talk about themselves, show you are interested
• Make use of all the different media for networking – meetings, phone, email
• Follow up – it's fine to email the next day to say you enjoyed meeting them
• Find ways you can build the relationship (without pestering them), for example, send them an interesting article or details of one of your contacts which they would find useful, or ask their advice about a business issue

If the thought of networking still puts you off, here are a few questions you can use to help you get started:

• How did you find out about this event?
• What made you come to this event?
• What business are you in?
• How useful do you find these kinds of events?

Our Business Networking events are a good opportunity to meet other local business people, potential customers, suppliers and even competitors in a relaxed and well-organised environment. Our Networking events are held at a range of venues around the North Kent area.