Hanging the “Open For Business” Sign – It doesn’t work.
During the starting days of my business I remember thinking how wonderful my business plan was and how there was no way nobody would not want to do business with me. I knew it was bullet proof. I would launch a website and they would come. I put up the open for business sign.
Nobody came.
The first few weeks were extremely quiet but I did manage to meet another start up business owner who introduced me to my first customer. I had met this person by chance when he found my website and wanted to meet over beers. He was a really nice guy, formerly from a local bank, and he had decided to go into business and provide financing and advice to small businesses. He had brought along several of his clients from his days at the bank he had worked at and he figured he could help them achieve better financing options through his own business. Although he would end up ending his business venture months later he did introduce me to my first client who is still a client to this day.
What I learned from this was that people were not going to come to me. I was going to have to start building my network of people to help provide me with leads to help grow my business. To this day I’ve grown an extensive group of contacts and it is amazing how you can sit back and draw a flowchart on the connections I’ve made from one client to another.
So how does one really setup a network? Well, the way I started it out was to reach out to people. The first thing I need was sign up for several groups through Meetup.com. I then approached a couple of business networking groups to start building my network with other business owners. You have to be careful about the networking groups that you connect with though as many of those people are also looking for business. Many are not looking to spend money. But that’s the trick. They know people who can spend money.
With networking groups you need to attend regularly and show your face to people. You will eventually gain their trust and appreciation as they get to know you. The best way to also gain this is to offer up referrals from your growing network to show that you are committed to the groups.
When you’re a small business owner just starting out, your network is critical. It’s all about who you know and what they think of you. I’m by no means an expert in this field and it is something that I’m continually working to improve on, especially when it comes to retaining my network contacts.
So a couple of tips when you started your business:
- Before you start your business, start building out your network of contacts. Go to your local chamber, meet with other business owners and simply get yourself out there.
- When you open the business, be aggressive in becoming a connector. A connector is somehow who is constantly connecting people for their mutual benefit. This comes back in a big way for you down the road. Plant the seeds.
- Marketing is important but it isn’t the biggest thing at the beginning. Pick your battles but focus most of your energy on make yourself known.
