When Social Becomes ‘So, Sell’: How Networking Can Spur Increased Sales

What is business networking? The Balance Small Balance defines it as “the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other businesspeople and potential clients or customers.”

Part of the beauty of corporate networking is that it is so spontaneous, you could find that it starts improving your business – and thus helping it to generate increased sales – before you even consciously realize that this productive chain of events is well underway.

Here are examples of how networking can bring a magical effect in a work context…

Other Businesspeople Can Share Their Knowledge with You

You don’t necessarily need to attend a conference or product launch event for this to start happening; it could actually begin in your own workplace.

Let’s assume that you’ve got a business up and running but would like to transition to giving it its own dedicated workspace, rather than simply your home office. You could start renting a serviced office from BE Offices, giving you access to onsite networking sessions.

Of course, you could find yourself soon getting to know other occupants of your office building due to, for example, regularly bumping into them on the stairs or in the lift. However, you do meet them, though, they could soon familiarize you with business strategies you had not previously considered.

You Can Scratch Their Back So That They Will Be Willing to Scratch Yours

Since the people you meet are bound to have issues of their own, they will hope you could help them to alleviate, you should always be careful to bring something of value to the table. Hence, you should try to see things from the other person’s position before you meet up with them.

Sure, before you do meet them, you might lack a clear idea of what exactly they need or want. However, in striking up a strong relationship with them, you could soon spot some common ground and where your different offerings would complement each other.

If you do prove yourself when delivering a particular product or service for the other person, they could be incentivized to later turn to you again in another hour of need.

This could be the case even if they don’t strictly need to buy the same product or service they did from you before – as, in meeting their needs the first time around, you could have increased your reputation for reliability in this person’s eyes. Hence, they could increasingly see you as someone who deserves respect in their particular line of work.

Networking Acts as A Form of Relatively Inexpensive Advertising 

“The component that is critical is just going out there and making yourself known,” Ellisa Brenneman, founder of the Portland-based consulting business Ethos 360, has told Inc., adding: “It’s a form of advertising like any other; that’s how I approach it.”

Brenneman continued: “You’re advertising yourself as you’re introducing yourself, whether it’s for how you can help a business, developing sales leads, or simply networking to meet others. It’s a basic form of advertising, but probably the cheapest.”