How ready are YOU to Network?

"Where were you when you had your last great idea?" asked the motivational speaker.

"At your desk, in your car on the way to work, in the shower maybe?" Cliff (for that was his name) furiously scribbled down onto one of those corporate flip-chart things every single answer that was shouted out from an increasingly animated audience; in all, 39 different locations were proffered - not one of which was "at a brainstorming session."

So. Using the above analogy, let's talk about networking. What happens when you go to a networking event? If you're anything like me, you at least pick up a few pristine-condition business cards to take with you. You might, depending on the setting, even dress-up - stick on your special networking jacket and tie and definitely wear your freshly shined shoes. You'll definitely want to have rehearsed and refined your company's "value-proposition" a few times in the car until you have it so beautifully off-pat that, upon over-hearing it, Simon Sinek himself would fight his way through the over-excited crowds to shake you by the hand and look you in the eyes, unilaterally declaring that his work here is done and beg you to sell him as many of those oh-so-fantastic widgets as you would be kind enough to allow him to buy right then and there.

Depending on which sector your business operates in, these networking events can be held monthly, weekly and, apparently, at all times of the day and night. One group I know of meets the last Thursday of every month at 6.45am and is packed; the early bird, it seems, catches the worm.

I hosted a business roundtable recently with some clients over a coffee to talk about their networking strategies - where they go, why they attend those particular events and what results they've experienced over the last 12-months. Their initial responses were standard enough, nothing out of the ordinary, a steady stream of contacts being made - all very sensible; then, out of nowhere, a light bulb went on for one of them. The last weekend, at a junior football club he manages, he recognised one of the parents from the other team and they got talking to each other after the match. This other parent ran a very successful, up-market B&B business, was looking to re-brand and remembered that my client branded and designed brilliant web-sites!

This, in turn, reminded another client round the table - a Director of a building services firm this time - that she'd bumped into an architect contact of hers when dropping one of her children off at school a couple of weeks ago; this architect contact had just been instructed for a £100k plus home extension project and wondered if my client would be interested in discussing the project!

So here's a lesson for us all - me included. Neither of these new business opportunities came from attending so-called "traditional" networking events, they occurred as a result of going about ordinary, everyday life and these clients were alert to new opportunities.

The point is this, if you run your own small business, you're representing your business all the time, so make sure your "opportunity radar" is alert...and always carry a business card or two with you. That next trip, errand or weekend activity could turn out to be really productive!

Marvellous.