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Have you heard that face-to-face meetings convert 40% of potential leads into paying customers?
To be a successful entrepreneur, networking is a must.
However, many people find it daunting to reach out to other business owners and professionals and develop relationships.
The same is true if you're missing some of the essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur.
Why does this matter?
Before attending networking events or contacting potential contacts, learning who the major players are and what they're up to in your field is essential.
Seeing the whole picture, including potential alliances, will help you make more informed decisions for your business.
In today’s article, we’ll show you how to network as an entrepreneur to find people already working in your field who can help you achieve greater business objectives.
Furthermore, we’ll detail the top 6 most sought-after skills you should develop to ensure your networking events become a smashing success.
Let’s begin!
Before I delve into the meat of entrepreneurism, I'd like to pause and consider some stats about the value of interconnection.
👍 In-person business meetings are favored by 85% of people because they allow for the development of deeper, more meaningful connections between business associates.
👍 Through face-to-face interaction, people can pick up on a whopping 77% of all nonverbal signals.
👍 What’s more, in-person communication improves:
Furthermore, you'll need the following entrepreneurial skills to appeal to the 80% of B2B purchases that are influenced by the buyer's direct or indirect interaction with customers:
Entrepreneurs need to have visionary leadership because it:
🎯 Helps them think creatively and come up with original solutions to issues.
🎯 Enables them to develop a vision for their business strategies.
🎯 Helps business owners motivate employees and foster teamwork.
🎯 Finally, visionary leaders can anticipate and respond to market changes.
Self-motivation is a crucial trait for any entrepreneur to possess, as it keeps them working hard toward their objectives.
It helps them to complete challenging tasks, overcome obstacles, and keep moving forward in the face of adversity:
🎯 Entrepreneurs who can push through setbacks are more productive and successful.
🎯 It inspires them to overcome obstacles.
🎯 Pushes business owners to stay afloat and keep going until they succeed.
Taking calculated risks is essential for entrepreneurs, as it allows them to seize opportunities that others might pass up.
Taking calculated risks can pay off by opening a company up to new customers, revenue streams, and product lines.
Entrepreneurs who use creative thinking are better able to think creatively, resolve problems, and develop fresh approaches.
🎯 Identifying opportunities, developing fresh products and services.
🎯 Coming up with creative marketing and advertising strategies.
🎯 Maintaining a competitive edge and adapting to changing business conditions.
For better decision-making and business expansion, entrepreneurs need to have strong financial management abilities:
🎯 Manage their cash flow, stay competitive, and make wise business decisions.
🎯 Prepare for the future by forecasting cash flow and budgeting expenses.
🎯 Identify problems and opportunities by using financial statements and ratios.
Last but not least, the ability to effectively communicate benefits entrepreneurs in their interactions with potential partners, customers, and investors.
It allows them to better shape and motivate their teams and spread buy-in for the company's goals.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs with great communication skills can win over investors, customers, and partners through persuasive communication.
If you can confidently check off at least 80% of these abilities, networking will come easily to you.
Let us give you a heads up on where to begin if you want to learn how to network as an entrepreneur successfully.
In this chapter, you'll learn about the 4 most effective networking strategies for growing your company and making valuable professional connections.
Getting involved in local networking groups like chambers of commerce and professional associations is a great way to meet other business owners in your area.
Joining one of these communities allows you to connect with people who share your interests and learn from their experience.
Additionally, many groups offer educational sessions and seminars that can help you stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices in your industry.
1. SCORE — the biggest free volunteer network for small business mentors. It offers free online learning while connecting small business owners and mentors.
2. Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) — the peer-to-peer network for entrepreneurs that have built a community of 15,600 business owners worldwide through mentorship, online networks, and global networking events.
3. Networking International (BNI) — a networking group that makes it easy to get many referrals. BNI claims to have 10,600 chapters and 286,000 members worldwide.
One of the best ways to connect with other business owners is to participate in networking events in your area.
These gatherings are great for networking with other business owners and hearing their perspectives.
In addition, learning about the state of the industry through events can help with more effective decision-making for your company.
1. Industry-Specific Networking Events — these events are excellent for making connections and learning more about your field. For example, accountants might pick up new accounting software, accounting standards and laws, and other helpful knowledge.
Additionally, attending industry-specific events is a great way to network with peers and discover new career opportunities - especially if you're looking to change careers at 30 and explore new paths through professional connections.
2. Professional Conferences — Over several days, professional conferences bring together thousands of business professionals. They offer keynote addresses, exhibit halls, seminars, and more that help you learn about business trends and meet new people. However, professional conferences are the most expensive networking opportunities.
3. Webinars — You can attend webinars on your laptop, computer, or mobile device. They provide networking and Q&A opportunities via digital business cards, private chats, and virtual expos. Webinars are perfect for low-cost national or international events, unlike in-person conferences.
When it comes to expanding your professional network and generating new business opportunities, you can greatly benefit from social media. Collaborating with a skilled SEO agency like Nine Peaks can further enhance your online presence, making it easier for potential connections to find and engage with your content. In addition, entrepreneurs who want to improve their online presence and marketing strategies can benefit from digital marketing courses that teach essential skills like social media marketing, content creation, and search engine optimization (e.g., the use of a website authority checker to monitor a domain's rating).
For instance, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are all fantastic places to connect with other business owners and grow your network.
You can leverage your social media to advertise business-related events and disseminate business-related media like podcasts, videos, and blogs.
Additionally, using animation software can help you create dynamic and visually engaging content that stands out and captures your audience's attention.
Finally, you can use social media to boost brand recognition and traffic to your site to reach a more targeted audience and generate more leads.
1. Facebook — With over 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide, it is undoubtedly one of the most popular social networks on the planet. Using the power of Facebook groups, and attending its live events can help you spread the word about you and your brand.
2. Twitter — With this social media platform, users can send and read short messages called "tweets" and engage in conversations with other users. You can use it to make almost anything, from plain text to a compilation video of photos and videos to external links. With 396.5 Million Twitter users worldwide, you can retweet, like, and mention other professionals from the industry as additional ways of connecting with them.
3. LinkedIn — LinkedIn is a professional-oriented social networking service that allows its users to make their own profiles, network with other professionals, join groups devoted to their field, and more. It is one of the greatest places to connect with professionals, find leads, partners, investors, etc. One effective strategy is using AI to create carousels that deliver valuable content in a visually engaging format, which can increase engagement and encourage profile visits.
Getting in touch with leaders and other influential people in your field can be a fantastic way to get helpful feedback and information as you navigate the business world.
In addition, communicating with professionals through email, social media, or face-to-face meetings can enhance your understanding of the field of your expertise.
It's also possible that the connections you make this way will lead to the discovery of previously unavailable opportunities and resources.
Because of all these advantages, it is important to leave an impression and utilize a quick and easy way of exchanging your business information — by utilizing digital business cards.
Using digital business cards to exchange contact and professional details during networking events has many potential benefits:
🎯 They are more organized, efficient, and economical electronic alternatives to traditional business cards, facilitating the effortless exchange of contact details.
🎯 They simplify contact management, allowing you to quickly and easily retrieve previously saved information, and export it straight to your small business CRM for later. Consider leveraging deovr for immersive virtual networking.
🎯 Digital business cards let you get more artistic with your branding and design efforts enabling you to add your images, logos, and other visual elements.
🎯 They make the exchange of business information easier and can even be used to advertise sales and special deals.
Tapni is a business company that helps you streamline and improve your company's online presence, internal operations, marketing, and networking in general.
Tapni’s digital solution enables you to:
👍 Share your social media and contact information with partners and prospects in creative and efficient ways, by utilizing NFC technology.
👍 Customize the look of your Tapni products to match your company's image and branding motto.
👍 Attract new leads and easily import them to your CRM using native integrations.
👍 Acknowledge exceptional performance, assess the outcome of the event, and adapt your approach accordingly.
👍 Take the digitalization of your business's data to the next level by utilizing products such as Tapni card, Tapni sticker, Tapni band, and Tapni keychain.
We believe that implementing our suggestions on how to network as an entrepreneur will allow you to enter the appropriate business cycles at a much more rapid pace while ensuring that you never miss an opportunity to expand your company.
However, implementing these suggestions requires long-term solutions to help you establish a solid professional reputation and get the communications going without effort.
Think about it.
What kind of businesslike impression can you make if you swipe to remember dozens of connections?
You can rely on Tapni to assist you with that.
You can start with Tapni solutions by following these 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Check out the digital business products we offer on our website and pick the one that best represents you.
Step 2: To customize your card, click "Design Your Card" and fill in your information (your name, company name, logo, etc.)
Step 3: Get this item into your shopping bag. Once you purchase, your product will be at your home address in 1-7 days.
You can also download the app and customize your profile information, manage your teams, and automate your workflows.
Furthermore, because of its serious dedication to compliance and security, Tapni offers high-security standards.
EU storage and AWS Cloud Infrastructure are just part of the security measurements that make this company a particularly valuable and trustworthy solution.
Wanna explore the benefits of modern networking?
Download our Tapni app to create a unique digital business solution for efficient and successful networking!
