Everybody has heard of the classic idiom “it’s not what you know, but who you know,” and we’ve all seen it applied in our lives and the lives around us. People being people are just more likely to provide favours, benefits, or take a risk for those they know, and those they trust. In the context of business relationships, this is especially true.
 
In most aspects of business there is always a degree of risk whether its taking a chance on trying a new supplier, hiring a new person, or even selling your product. For most of us the key to alleviating or getting past that risk, is establishing a level of trust. We do that by getting to know the people we are dealing with, getting a sense of their personality and taking time to build rapport and trust.
 
Fortunately, there is a formalized mechanism to make this easy. That mechanism is of course referred to as networking. For many people, the most difficult part of networking is actually setting aside the time to do it because once you are at an event, its actually quite easy. People go to networking events because they want to meet new people and make new connections. Honestly I had not met a nicer and more sincere group of strangers until I attended a Chamber event. It probably doesn’t hurt that many of the events have great food and refreshments.
 
Networking isn’t the type of marketing strategy that yields instantaneous results, but it absolutely a crucial strategy over the long term. In the realm of small business, one of the most valuable assets we have is our reputation. So invest in it and build upon that reputation one introduction at a time.

Take a look at our events calender and make sure to check out September's Business After Hours September 26th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Culligan Water (6521 67 St, Red Deer).