Business Networking in Action

Networking has become a crucial factor in the modern workplace. It is the most effective method of developing your business or career and is a key component of your personal brand. This one day course will teach you how to be able to build strong business relationships, develop a level of personal credibility and increase your network of contacts in order to enhance your visibility and create opportunities for yourself and your organisation.

This training course will help your participants build a professional reputation and develop a network of connections through the two key methods available to them; face-to-face and online.

Attendees will discover how to effectively combine these two approaches and create a strategy for networking success that will generate their own community and actively grow their personal network. This will result in an improved performance in their approach to networking and consequently provide opportunities and prospects that will increase their business success.

The training provides them with the tools and techniques to both plan a successful, strategic approach to networking and develop their personal communication skills, which will ensure they build effective business relationships.

Topics covered:

• Why Network? – Establishing the importance of networking with some shocking statistics and an activity that defines the importance of networking to the individual. This is followed by some insight into the key aims of a networking strategy, what puts people off, as well as some personal revelations about networking.
• Increase Your Business Presence – Looking at the components of a strong business presence, including; credibility, personal brand, visibility and social capital.
• Developing a Networkers Attitude – An exercise that clarifies the perfect attitudes and behaviours of great networkers and comparing the participants against this. Thus identifying areas for development.
• Face to Face Networking – An overview and insight into the main types of face to face networking opportunities available, with the benefits and pitfalls of each.
• Online Networking – An overview of the different social media and online networking tools and how to get the best out of them. Includes; LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and online forums.
• Communication Skills for Networking Success – Ensuring a good first impression, creating an opening sound bite and writing an online profile that promotes and engages.
• Developing a Conversation – Building on the opening sound bite and developing a conversation through good questioning techniques and following a selection of key networking rules. Including an activity to test and practice the skills.
• Working a Room – A fun activity that embeds and develops learning while encouraging practice and communication. This activity covers 10 of the main skills required to work a room.
• Breaking into a Group – Identifying body language to spot when a group or pair is open to new people entering the conversation or would rather not encourage participation. Knowing how to break into a group, what to say and how to remain professional.
• Exiting a Conversation – Developing some techniques to extricate oneself from a conversation without causing embarrassment or rudeness.
• The Follow-Up – Using a structure to identify the most important contacts created and establishing when and how to follow up with each group. Includes example follow-up email and a chance to develop their own.
• Creating a Network Plan – Participants are provided with a networking action plan to review and complete. This sets them on the journey of developing their networking skills and ensures they have a strategy and goals to target.

Anyone who is looking to improve their networking performance, or the networking performance of a management or sales team.

No pre-requisites required.