What's the point of networking Adelaide if we are in lockdown?
I mean really – we can’t go anywhere and realistically only two of my three businesses can trade right now.
It is easy to fall into a defeatist mindset when your daily life has been taken out of your control to a degree. The important thing to remember is that whilst you can’t influence right now , you have all the power in the world over what your tomorrow looks like and the actions you take today is the food for a new stage, a fresh start or simply maintaining growth and expansion so that lockdown is just a blip on the radar rather than the end of life as we know it.
So lets start with the basics first
Five proactive things you can do to grow your business tomorrow by doing stuff today
One - Go through your sent items emails and see who you should be reaching out to and making plans to catch up Face to Face or on Zoom.
In today’s automated world we often assume our CRM’s will prompt us to do what we need to do but you can’t really replace the context you have in your brain and how valuable that is. By starting to proactively book times to catch up with your contacts during what is a vulnerable time you firmly put yourself front of mind and also strengthen those relationships because you have been the one to reach out and check in.
Two - Call your referral partners.
Now is a great time to strategise how to help each other, what kind of opportunities can you create for each other and what meetings can you set up for each other moving forward to support each others growth. Put all your cards on the table and really take a deep dive into each others contacts as well as brainstorming other ideas for joint projects.
Three - Go through your Facebook friends list
But I know all my friends – maybe you do but realistically how well do you know them. Have a look at who they work for or what businesses they own. Chances are that there are a number of hidden opportunities right in front of you but you just haven’t asked the question.
Four - Get clear on who you want to meet and why
So you have looked at your existing networks but who is missing from them? Based on your business goals and where you need to be, what needs to happen and who do you need introductions to in order to thrive? Now is a great time to to really focus on who knows the people you want to know but they have no idea who you are.
Five - Start connecting people to people for mutual benefit.
Ok so this is a no brainer but often this is what people fail to do because they miss the point. Making someone else’s life easier in business will in turn make yours easier or better in the long run. That said you have to do the work, so make the phone calls and send the emails. If there is someone in your contacts that you can connect to someone else then get connecting. They will work out if they can do business together or not.
Beyond all this – get out there. Just because you are stuck working from home doesn’t mean you are stuck in this modern age you can pretty much do anything online including networking so why not get on with meeting some people BNI Adelaide North successfully moved all their chapter meetings online last week and we will just as quickly move all out chapters back to Face to Face networking as we come out of lockdown. We understand that our chapters are the engine room for the local economy and why would you not want to see what that engine room can do?
You can meet all of our amazing members by requesting an invitation to a networking event so get networking Adelaide and lets show the rest of the world how its done
