Man is a social animal. Whether it’s you or me, each one of us likes to be part of a group, which we usually refer to as our “Networking Group”. Studies have suggested that it’s not only the youngsters, but the people from other age groups as well who have a natural affiliation towards a specific Networking Group and wish to be part of it. But, the underlying problem with these networking groups, about which most people are ignorant, is that these groups can become a great source of time & money wastage. Extended breakfasts, small local parties with same old faces – all these would be useless until you churn out something useful from it for yourself. This can be done by planning, strategizing, conceptualizing. So, how would you design your strategy? First Think, why are you a part of that group? Are you part of a group just because they allowed you to just join in, or you became a part of that group because it fitted into your goals well?
If you are able to answer all these questions correctly, then that would be a time when you would have an unclouded picture of your goals in front of you. Then, you would actually be making proper use of your networking group. Time, the most expensive resource, is even more critical while dealing with marketing ideas for small businesses. When you are walking, talking, living and even breathing – if you don’t think of business, if you don’t allocate your time & energy properly – then you are just wasting your time for just a short-lived feel good moment.
What should be done to overcome this situation? Nothing much is actually required – You just need to use the principle “brain/thought analysis”. It is the powerful way of getting ideas out of your head onto the paper. Let’s say you write the word “Commitments” on a piece of a paper. You then need to draw a complete mind map of everything that comes to your mind when you think of commitment, what commitments have you had in your life, be it at home or your work place or anything else, everything has to be written down. The situation might be for you to realize that you are having too many commitments at a given point of time. What you should do then is, get rid of the some of those. Let’s say you chuck out the bottom 2% of it.
But one thing here to note is that you can’t be just crossing out the jobs you have put in your commitment map. You need to focus. Focus on those groups which are of utmost importance and which serve your goals, you had thought-off for yourself. Since you can’t be present in all the groups at the same time hence it’s you who has to decide who would be the selected 2-3 groups which can give you the maximum value add.
Remember to always keep track of your time allocations for different groups and regularly measure the results coming out of those groups. Always remember how expensive might be a cup of coffee but the time you spend with that group and selecting that group in the first place, is rather costlier. Your time is the most valuable resource you will ever possess in your life and if, you are not actually getting some good yield out of it then it’s sure that you would need to re-validate your decisions.
Understanding The Topology Of Social Meetings, Is A Key To Originate Marketing Ideas For Small Business
The question arises here is, where does most of our time actually goes – is it work groups, home groups or some other local groups – which group is consuming your most of the time is an important question to answer. You would find that be it any of the above groups, the most time consuming activities we usually engage ourselves are the Local “Parties” – this includes office parties, parties with clients/customers towards the marketing efforts of your organization, parties with relatives or friends and there are many more to the list. We all go to some party or event to broaden our network. There you would observe that – each and every person are either engaged in a networking group or trying to become a part of one and there are certain strategies around which they will be playing to have a good networking group. Some would try and go for in-depth conversation with only selected few while there will be some just having prima-facie discussions with all. You may choose to be either of them or a hybrid of both as well.
The question arises here is, where does most of our time actually goes – is it work groups, home groups or some other local groups – which group is consuming your most of the time is an important question to answer. You would find that be it any of the above groups, the most time consuming activities we usually engage ourselves are the Local “Parties” – this includes office parties, parties with clients/customers towards the marketing efforts of your organization, parties with relatives or friends and there are many more to the list. We all go to some party or event to broaden our network. There you would observe that – each and every person are either engaged in a networking group or trying to become a part of one and there are certain strategies around which they will be playing to have a good networking group. Some would try and go for in-depth conversation with only selected few while there will be some just having prima-facie discussions with all. You may choose to be either of them or a hybrid of both as well.
While people are in the eating places, they generally tend to put down their formality caps and become more social.
Some people would rather take strategic locations in order to make an entry into a networking group of their choice. You may think – why one should go near an eating place to network? The answer is simple, while people are in the eating places, they generally tend to put down their formality caps and become more social, thus giving you an opportunity to make a good network. Also, in these places it’s quite easy to find out common points to talk about like food talks or make some comments in order to kick-start your conversation.
The entry door is another strategic spot to get in contact of the right group because when people come in, then they are in the most vulnerable state. Imagine yourself, you have just walked into the party room, it’s pretty obvious that you would be some-what conscious thinking you won’t know anybody there. You may choose to go straight to the snacks area shying away from others. But if during this time, another person comes up and talks to you, it is likely that you would have good connect with that person. Also, for the next time as well, you would prefer his/her company. This strategy even works well with introvert people. Just imagine that you are an introvert, you then at times start behaving as if you are hosting the event, you start welcoming people in by saying “you are welcome” to each & every passerby. You will see, just by this simple statement you are able to make your first positive impression. You may further increase the size of your networking group by having conversations & handshakes with people when they are leaving. Since you become the first face to see and the last face to stay in vision of that person, it is most likely that the person would remember you.
How To Become An Introduction Super Hero Using These Marketing Ideas For Small Business?
Next time, when you attend some event and you know few people out there, in this situation you may try to build a connect between 2 or more individuals. For example, if you know the person who was walking by your side, then you may say, Hey Hi Amit, have you met my old friend? This would eventually trigger some talks between the 2 persons. By doing this, you have not only added value to yourself, but also to the person you are introducing him to.
Not only this, many a times, it also becomes a great way to get out of the long conversion. The moment you feel the conversation in which you are engaged with a known person is turning out to be a long and boring one, then you should immediately think of way to connect him to another known person present in the party.
Art of adding an extra value from the networking groups by proper planning and time allocations to the social meetings has emerged as one of the most important business marketing ideas and becomes all the more important for small business which do not want to spend much on marketing and advertising fronts and rather prefer word-of-mouth marketing strategy. I myself, have personally used this strategy, wherein I got stuck in the same situation or a similar one. You should also try it out for yourselves at such parties, and keep enjoying your “networking group”.
By Tarun Gupta
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