At Hold Everything, the virtual office company based on London’s prestigious Regent Street, networking through a number of different networking organisations was paramount to our business progression.

Having been a member of two of the UK’s most visited networking organisations, eventually, Hold Everything’s, Director Richard Cooper set up a Central London Group with one of the organisations having bi weekly meetings at All Bar One in Regent Street.

So Why Is Networking Such An Essential & How Can Networking Benefit You?

By attending Business networking meetings it allows professionals from diverse industries to come together to share their valuable knowledge and surround themselves with positive uplifting people that can help grow their business. It’s an opportunity to showcase their expertise within their industry, build new connections and raise their own profile among other professionals. It’s also a time to offer advice and relate with one another on the hardships experienced.

-‘One of the most powerful networking practices is to provide immediate value to a new connection. This means the moment you identify a way to help someone, take action.’ – As said by Lewis Howes taken from www.brainyquote.com/topics/networking

‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’- This statement can be taken as a negative and a positive.  But for certain it is true in business, as having a great source of relevant connections in your network that you can call on when needed is a major advantage. By building your network it provides you with a little black book of connections that can help open the door to connect with others. This can result in many opportunities for you, for example it can lead to joint ventures and client leads along with many other opportunities that all point to increased business results, which really is the main aim of the game.

Our Tips At Networking

Everyone has a different style but here are a few tips we benefited from;

• Perfect your pitch- Knowing what to say is imperative, getting your message over quickly and in a way that is remembered.
• Using a visual aid-We used a coffee cup as a way of making other members consider how our costs compare – our services are less than a cup of coffee a day from the main coffee chains.
• Always follow up on leads- At one group Richard Cooper attended he referred himself to the groups Private Dentist for future dental care. The dentist never called, he lost three patients and probably a lot of money.

Value Of Business Networking

So how can you value business networking?

This can be by a ROI, it can be by connections made, it can be by repeat business, for everyone the way of valuing whether the time spent getting up early and venturing to meetings is different.

Hold Everything have maintained many relationships, many years after memberships have expired and one of those whom the company has stayed in touch with is Neil Giller, Managing Area Director in Notts & Lincs for BNI.

Neil advised us on the following statistic relating to BNI as a whole.

‘BNI is the most successful business networking referral organisation in the world. We have over 12,500 members in the UK and Ireland alone, passing over 676,000 referrals worth over £520 million every year! It is quite literally the best way to build a better business.’

So after reading our outlook on business networking, do you think it is worth pursing?