If you have recently started a business, effective networking could prove instrumental to that company’s success. Popular places to forge valuable new contacts include Chamber of Commerce meetings, field-based events and virtually any gatherings attracting professionals, says Businessing Magazine.
However, what if you are further down the road and have exhausted all of the usual pathways? It that case, it’s time to think less conventionally. Why not try the following sociable spots?
The bar
This idea comes from Inc., which acknowledges that “a little libation helps oil the hinges of pretty much any new encounter, including a professional one.” If you often feel your stress easing when in a bar, imagine what benefits this could bring to interactions with a potential corporate contact.
It could, for example, make it easier for you to vocalise your thoughts freely and constructively in a setting less formal than the office, allowing you to explore the possibilities with someone new.
On a plane
Whether you will be catching that plane for an overseas business meeting or a leisurely getaway, you could be left twiddling your thumbs for hours – unless you strike up a conversation with the person sitting in the chair beside yours. What could you talk about? It’s ultimately up to you.
Freelance writer Christina DeBusk has recalled once getting to know, in this way, someone who had long struggled with weight loss. DeBusk told her of a book she had published about weight loss, and it wasn’t long before this new contact downloaded the book.
Through social media
You might have originally set up your firm’s social media pages simply to grow your corporate presence and, hopefully, interest and attract new customers or clients. However, you could even find new mentors on social media – just consider the especially corporate-oriented site LinkedIn…
It’s here that DeBusk, as she has recalled, met a marketer who helped teach her essentials in thriving as a full-time, self-employed writer.
At sporting events
If you follow the activities of a particular sports club, then turning up at one of its games, with plenty of fellow fans in attendance, can give you an ideal environment to converse with like-minded people. Ultimately, the sport itself gives you a convenient excuse to chat with strangers.
However, in acting on this tip, you could reap especially impressive returns from it if you arrive at the ground early to look around the crowd in search of the particular type of contacts you want.
Right on your doorstep
Where is your business currently sited? If you are simply working from home, you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to meet similar businesses with which you could form partnerships.
You could consider moving your company into a serviced office from a provider like BE Offices. As pointed out by Real Business, serviced offices tend to be in well-regarded areas; hence, you could rent an office in a place that is particularly representative of your industry and already home to many firms much like yours.
