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The Price You Pay For Networking
When I first started networking, I attended everything I could. I went to anything that would have a crowd of people in attendance that I could get my marketing message out to.
By: Darlene Willman
When I first started networking, I attended everything I could. I went to anything that would have a crowd of people in attendance that I could get my marketing message out to.
By: Darlene Willman
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I knew that I if I told enough people about what I was doing that eventually someone would know someone that would be interested in getting what I offered.
Unfortunately, after a few months of attending everything I realized that my business was experiencing peaks and valleys. Some months were very profitable while other months we were eating macaroni and cheese!
Then I started to analyze where I was going, how much I was spending and where my customers were coming from. This was a tedious process but it really shed some light on things.
I knew networking was the best way to promote my business but some places I enjoyed some things and other places I didn't. I then decided to launch my own networking group called, "The Motivational Roundtable". I wanted a way to learn from others who were also in business to hear their experiences of what worked for them and what didn't thereby eliminating or shortening the learning curve.
My first year of organizing monthly meetings was completely free to attend. I didn't want to charge anything because I wanted to attract as many people as possible, however I spent a tremendous amount of time finding locations to meet, sending invitations and other time consuming things. Unfortunately, I never got any new customers from it either.
At the time, I was also participating in a mastermind group that encouraged me to start charging for it since it was gaining in popularity and was producing great results for people. In fact, I also had a monthly speaker that did a quick presentation that was geared towards business strategies.
With the advice from the members of my mastermind group, I started to charge $10 per person to attend. I was reluctant to start charging since I thought I'd lose a lot of people and to my surprise, more people attended!
Here's the thing, when I tracked where most of my customer's came from it wasn't from my own event but from one I spent the most money at. I realized that the more I spent, the more likely I was to find someone who could afford my services. It was the most logical thing in the world, attend events that were FREE and meet people without any budget. Attend middle of the road events that cost $15-$20 to attend and meet people with an average budget.
So the next time you consider joining something that is a little expensive for you, try to do it anyway. Most likely, you'll meet your very next customer!
Darlene Willman, aka The Sassy Networker, is a keynote speaker author and coach, specializing in small business networking and referrals. She provides resources, connections and support to entrepreneurs, small business owners and other professionals that have a strong desire to promote their companies through relationship marketing. She will show you how to build an incredible network of people who refer business to each other plus so much more. You can start receiving her eZine, The Networking Focus by visiting www.SassyNetworker.com
Unfortunately, after a few months of attending everything I realized that my business was experiencing peaks and valleys. Some months were very profitable while other months we were eating macaroni and cheese!
Then I started to analyze where I was going, how much I was spending and where my customers were coming from. This was a tedious process but it really shed some light on things.
I knew networking was the best way to promote my business but some places I enjoyed some things and other places I didn't. I then decided to launch my own networking group called, "The Motivational Roundtable". I wanted a way to learn from others who were also in business to hear their experiences of what worked for them and what didn't thereby eliminating or shortening the learning curve.
My first year of organizing monthly meetings was completely free to attend. I didn't want to charge anything because I wanted to attract as many people as possible, however I spent a tremendous amount of time finding locations to meet, sending invitations and other time consuming things. Unfortunately, I never got any new customers from it either.
At the time, I was also participating in a mastermind group that encouraged me to start charging for it since it was gaining in popularity and was producing great results for people. In fact, I also had a monthly speaker that did a quick presentation that was geared towards business strategies.
With the advice from the members of my mastermind group, I started to charge $10 per person to attend. I was reluctant to start charging since I thought I'd lose a lot of people and to my surprise, more people attended!
Here's the thing, when I tracked where most of my customer's came from it wasn't from my own event but from one I spent the most money at. I realized that the more I spent, the more likely I was to find someone who could afford my services. It was the most logical thing in the world, attend events that were FREE and meet people without any budget. Attend middle of the road events that cost $15-$20 to attend and meet people with an average budget.
So the next time you consider joining something that is a little expensive for you, try to do it anyway. Most likely, you'll meet your very next customer!
Darlene Willman, aka The Sassy Networker, is a keynote speaker author and coach, specializing in small business networking and referrals. She provides resources, connections and support to entrepreneurs, small business owners and other professionals that have a strong desire to promote their companies through relationship marketing. She will show you how to build an incredible network of people who refer business to each other plus so much more. You can start receiving her eZine, The Networking Focus by visiting www.SassyNetworker.com
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