There have been different opinions about befriending the competition, but it is a common belief that it's never good to alienate your rivals - you'll never know when you will need them, or there may be a need for you to enter into a joint venture with them some day.
But how do you establish business connections? Here are the most common ways.
Attend events and get to know people. There are a lot of events in your community that encourage people to mingle - attend each and every one of those which you feel may open windows of opportunity for you. Approach fellow attendees and ask them what they do. Find something in common and strike a conversation. Always have your business card ready. Exchange contact information, and keep those numbers safely in your Blackberry or PDA. We can never stress how important having a stack of business cards is to any businessperson during any event. This makes exchange of information easy and convenient. This is the first step in establishing a database of business connections.
Locate people with similar interests or activities using social media platforms. Create an LinkedIn account and join in on groups that cater to people with similar fields of interest as yours. There will be group discussions which you can join, so do so. The more you get your name out there, the more connections you will make. Consider socializing or promoting your business also through a Facebook Business page. Here, you not only encourage virtual connections between you and your fans, you also will connect with people in your industry. Remember the power of the internet - you message, including your products and services, can be promoted all over the planet. You easily establish connections when you have established trust from your contacts.
Find old friends, re-establish contact with former clients - even if they're from another industry. What is really good about this method is that you have already established easiness and trust with people from your past. Your class mates way back when you were 12 may never forget the goodness you once showed them, so bank on those connections from the past to get them enticed to be your clients. Your former neighbours know that you can be trusted in times of need (maybe there was a time you extended help to them when they had an emergency, or you had to look after their kids or pets when they went away for a vacation?), so it is not too difficult to re-establish connections. Explain to them what you do, and how your business can help them by answering a need, and trust that these past relationships are solid, bankable forever connections which cannot be equalled by any new acquaintance.
It's not too difficult to establish business connections. The trick is to be friendly and approachable, make sure you answer a need, and have a good solid reputation to back your business. It's going to be easy, you'll soon see!
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Michael Griffiths is the CEO and Founder of My Small Business Marketing Guru. Helping small business owners generate more leads, clients and increase profits with relationship based marketing strategies. We invite you to get your free black mask marketing resources to help you business grow today, when you visit http://www.mysmallbusinessmarketingguru.com.au
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