In my last post about I wrote about something more powerful than a Google review, word of mouth advertising from the local community.
More specifically we’re talking about building relationships with other people in the community who are not already your clients or members. This group of people may or may not ever become a client or member, nonetheless, can serve as a tremendous resource for your business.
Once you have gathered your list of names as outlined in my previous post, you can begin a systematic approach of reaching out to these people.
The most effective way to reach these business owners is to stop by and see them, face to face.
First, gather some business cards and perhaps one piece of promotional information that you use. Second, stop by the owner’s place of business and introduce yourself. It is very important in this initial meeting to keep it short. You are dropping by and the owner is clearly not expecting you. Don’t leave the wrong impression by staying too long and consuming unplanned time.
If the owner is not there, inquire as to when would be a good time to catch up with them. If possible, leave a business card and a verbal message that you will be in contact in the next couple of days. And then make it a very high priority to get back to them at that time.
The purpose of this first meeting is to schedule the next meeting. The second meeting should be at a time and place where the two of you can have a relaxed conversation about your businesses. I highly recommend using a coffee shop for this meeting where you are both away from the normal distractions of your everyday life.
Be certain to tell the owner the purpose of your meeting – which is to get to know each other better and see how you can mutually support each other’s efforts. This will require an equal share of sharing and listening.
Most business owners are very interested in knowing about other owners in their service area. I have found that 99% of the time the owner is very open to the idea of getting together and will respond very positively to the suggestion of grabbing a cup of coffee.
When the two of you get together for your networking meeting, it is very important to keep the perspective that you are there to learn about each other’s businesses first and then to see if there’s any way you can be mutually supportive of each other.
Certain businesses lend themselves more easily to mutual promotion. However, business owners are always in touch with other people and your goal should be that the business owner has you on the top of their mind when people ask about your kind of business.
Likewise, you need to be genuinely interested in promoting his or her business, which is usually a very natural outcome of getting to know the other person and the product or service they provide.
The two of you should also explore the possibility of having copies of each other’s promotional materials. In some cases, this works very well and in other cases a stack of business cards works just as well, or even better.
Networking like this does take time. As a result, many businesses don’t make it a high priority. However, for those that do, payback is remarkable. Most people also tell us that this process is very educational and energizing on a personal level, as well.
The role of the business owner is generally lonely and networking opportunities like this expose us to people who think and live like we do which is very encouraging and rewarding.
In conclusion, a great goal would be to have one networking meeting a week. In the course of a year you’ll come to know 50 local business people in your area and they will know of you and your business.
These 50 people will also enthusiastically promote you and your business which will have a huge financial payoff in time.
