Is networking an essential component of any small growing business or is it a waste of money?
My take on this is both!
I have certainly learnt over the years that having a network of people within your town or city and beyond that are considered useful contacts can come in handy, but I wouldn’t rely on this as a way of growing my business.
Let’s look at arguably the World’s largest networking club BNI as an example. Most places have at least 1 group nearby. Cost is around £600 per year and there is a certain level of expectation that you will bring something to the table each week (referrals).
BNI is massive and has clearly become really successful. Plenty of business owners swear by it, but it’s very time consuming and I believe can serve as a distraction to what your main daily duties should be.
I have joined x2 separate BNI chapters and if I didn’t have a referral by the end of the week I would feel pressure to find one.
All of this with no guarantee of when you will receive any referrals yourself.
One thing I have noticed though and that is that those over the age of 50 seem to favour this old fashioned way of using up their marketing budget.
Contrast this to what you could get out of £600 being spent on Facebook ads. I know that I could get at least 20 new clients per month into my business for 6 consecutive months for that. So each client is worth an average of £500 and therefore you could add £60,000 to my business on a spend of £600!!!
I’m not saying that networking isn’t important as in the long term you can certainly make some really useful contacts, but if your main priority initially is getting more clients and improving the profit of your business then the best way to spend £600 is on Facebook Ads.
Obviously you have to know what to do, otherwise you could spend £600 on FB ads and get nothing out of it.
Times are changing so move with them.
Ricky
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