How to Boost Your Networking Skills

 As an entrepreneur, having a network is a given. Your network is one of your most powerful assets if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. It requires real skills to build and nurture a good network. Great networking simply means creating relationships that will last your entire career. These here skills come in very handy in that quest. 

Get into social media: No matter how shy you are, with social media, it is easy to socialize with people. That enables you to make friends acquaintances and business contacts. LinkedIn and Facebook are very handy to use when you want to build a network of real people.

 

Keep a priority contact list: With it, you can get to know a few influential people very well. You can build a list of about 100 contact persons whom you can continuously interact with like family. This list can include the top people in various fields in your industry whom you want to get to know and then regularly reach out to. With time, you can get recommendations from some of these people to open doors for you.  Depending on the business you are in, some of these people can become clients while others could lead you to clients. That helps your network a great deal.

Run a group: You can get involved in running a trade association or networking group. That way, you’ll get to know the stakeholders well, and with time, they’ll introduce you to others. Simply running a social group on WhatsApp is helpful here.

Be sociable at events: Being sociable is a very big asset any entrepreneur can have. Anytime you get into an event, it helps to quickly strike conversations even with folks you haven’t met before. You can easily walk up to someone you know who’s speaking to people you don’t know and become part of their conversation. That gets you noticed easily if you are at home with their topic of conversation. You can also arrange to sit by strangers at meals or coffee breaks to strike up conversations with them. That helps to build your network. A follow up thereafter helps to deepen the relationship.

Speak on a panel: This can either be on Radio, TV or both. It could even be to a large physical audience. If the event you are speaking on is well publicized, you can never tell who and who are looking/listening in. Speaking on a panel gives a very good opportunity to become a thought leader and an expert in your field. People easily pick interest in you if the topic you are discussing is of interest to them. They can arrange to link up with you thereafter for further business relationships.