In a recent post I suggested it was a good idea to work out who else is needed when you do business. This simple exercise means you can work out which other businesses give you the most referral opportunities. Both for giving and receiving.
Someone asked me a couple of days ago if I could give an example. Some years ago I was involved in an Internet start up. We provided high speed internet connectivity to business clients in City of London in the days before broadband! Before we opened for business we built relationships with other providers of services in the Internet, IT and Telecoms space. Services that would be complementary to ours and that our clients and potential clients might also need. Some of these may have been competitors in some respects, but we felt that if they were right for a client then we would not be and vice versa.
These other businesses included providers of:
- consumer ISP services - we were b2b only.
- computer and computer network equipment - we did not sell this equipment.
- email and internet software.
- internet security.
- computer cabling suppliers.
- data storage.
- telephony and telephony equipment.
- e-commerce.
- web design.
- internet hosting.
Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
2 comments:
Dave:
Good post. In a way it's about the time horizon. If it is viewed as short than one looks for immediate payback and the only way to get that is business now. Networking requires the long view. Success takes time.
Regards,
Ken Tudhope
www.networkingnote.com
Thanks for the post, it's interesting to see some of the information laid out as graphics. I also like Malcolm Gladwell's quote, because it is something I've tried to explain to many people with varying levels of success. When you're trying to implement a social media campaign or influence strategie
it's important that you build a relationship with your readers. This ensures that they get the word out about you and your company.
Post a Comment