Networking with FOCUS - Bringing it all Together

If you have been following this series of articles, you will have noticed a couple of key ideas cropping up again and again. Hopefully by now, you will have recognised the importance of having a strategy for your networking rather than leaving things to chance.

As we have discussed, while many people look down on ‘networking’ as a series of old boys clubs or small businesses desperately exchanging business cards, in reality individuals and businesses of all sizes need to network to succeed. And that is much easier with a clear vision of where you want to go and what you need to do to get there.

In addition, you may have noticed the regular use of the word ‘focus’ throughout the series. Unfortunately, most businesses lend very little focus to their networking and therefore experience unsatisfactory results. This isn’t because networking doesn’t work, it’s because of a lack of thought that has gone into it.

As discussed in previous articles, to get networking to work, you need to:

• Know what the Financial return from your networking should be
• Set out some Objectives across the board, not just looking at the financial benefits
• Know what Commitment you need to put into your networks to get the results you want, and how much you can manage
• Ensure that the people who want to help you can Understand what you are looking for
• Bring all of this together into a clear Strategy for your networking.

In short, add some FOCUS to your networking and watch your business or your career accelerate forwards.