Networking Training

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This session can be accessed Australia-wide: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

It is a valuable skill in business to network. This skill allows an individual with it to succeed in business ventures and create more opportunities for themselves and others. Building and maintaining connections is a valuable resource in the business world. Anyone who practices this should aim to create a large network and maintain high-quality relationships with all members. This is not just for one businessperson. It is for all employees and companies. This training session will help you and your team network as effectively as possible.

Socialization is a vital skill that you need to grow your interests and network. Talking to people is one of the best ways to get resources and investments that will help you grow your business. These methods will help workers establish priority targets for networking, to maintain their networks, and to reciprocate to their contacts. This course is crucial for business expansion, public relations and company interactions. This course is well-suited for sessions on socialisation and leadership. Contact us if you would like to learn more about our training courses and other services. We are helping companies and teams become their best selves. Your team might be next.

Networking Training Outline

Target People You Need to Know

At a business event, guest lists are often publicly shown. Take a look at it, and then think about whom among these people you want to try talking to. Remember, the goal is to get to know that person, and that they get to know you as well. When you walk up to the person, introduce yourself, and then give them your “business pitch,” a one-minute description of your competence and how this can benefit your target. If you’re lucky, they’ll swing at your pitch and conduct business with you. If you’re not, then move on, keep trying, and don’t get discouraged. Business is all about learning from your mistakes. Try not to make the same ones you might have made when you were making a failed business pitch, but do take care that you don’t overreact to your mistakes, and mislabel actions you were actually doing right as mistakes. If it so comes to pass that you walk away with nothing, don’t give up! Try again at another event, talk to another company. If you’re good at selling your competence, someone will eventually buy it, even if it’s not the highest tier of contact you want. For example, if Mike wants to expand his network, he puts himself out there at a business fair, targeting, say, the architecture mogul James. He pitches his company’s concrete and high-quality support beam materials, and it may impress James. If it does, James buys Mike’s building materials, and they conduct business, and now James knows to contact Mike if he needs building materials. This expands both of their networks, so they can help each other out. If it doesn’t, however, this won’t discourage Mike, and he keeps improving his pitch and keeps trying to pitch to people he wants to establish business connections with. Many other examples are discussed in this session.

Keep the Bond Strong

We discuss that there are three types of network: social, professional, and artificial. Social network means your network of personal contacts for social or non-business ventures. These can be made of family, friends, former colleagues, old schoolmates, and more. Professional network refers to your contacts made in business, for business, like lawyers, clients, current colleagues, and others. Lastly, your artificial network is a business community you’re part of that is open to new members, trade associations, or other professional institutions. This can refer to communities like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. In all of these networks, you may have a number of contacts, but success isn’t just the number of contacts you have in your network; it is also the quality of those contacts. This quality is dependent on the social bond you form with each of these contacts, and you have to establish a pleasant, friendly relationship with that person in order to maintain the bond. If you don’t maintain your bonds, they wither and can easily cease to exist. An example of failure in bond maintenance is if Kim meets the manager of a superior fast food company, Jeremy, and she manages to get him to accept her business pitch the first time. However, she never contacts him again after that, and when Kim gets in a business pinch, she remembers that Jeremy has the resources to bail her out, but she can’t contact him because he would see it as her just using him for his position if she only contacts him when she is in need. It is key to remember that success in business is never, ever a solo mission; it is a team effort, and the bigger your team is, and the stronger your bonds are with each other, the harder it will be to put you down. In team work we discuss creating a strong bond.

Be Reciprocating

We show you the importance of reciprocating with example case study material. Sincere gestures of goodwill and a willingness to learn from others can go a long way in the worlds of business and networking. Oftentimes, when one networks, it is to establish contact with someone who is more powerful, or has more resources. Bigger friends mean more money, and more resources to tap in the events of need. However, remember that there is a person attached to that success; do not be blinded by what you want from them. If they take your pitch, remember that they are doing you a favour. Do something for them in return: send them some of your products as a sign of good will, offer them some of your own resources to tap when they need you. This is called investing in a contact, and it is important to have some investment in every contact you make. It builds your relationship with them, and definitely makes you more likeable in their eyes, and the eyes of others. This creates a cumulative effect of other contacts wanting to get to know you, investing in you. For example, Trevor networks with Cliff, and Cliff is the more successful contact. In exchange for Cliff’s acceptance of his business pitch, Trevor offers more of his services and some of it for free on certain basis. This gives Cliff reason to be glad he accepted the pitch, allowing him to further invest in Trevor, and the two build a strong network. All of that is possible if you just buy your contact a drink; offer a discount just for them, and more. Be generous to your contacts, and they’ll have reason to be equally generous. We discuss this and other forms of reciprocating in the session.