How To Find A Close Network For Your Business

By Author: KC TAN
Total Articles: 4717
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I used to believe that friends are the best supportive network for anyone into business. But honestly, in business, you will find that your mates are the last set of people who will buy from you. Most of the time, folk who buy from you are people who don't know you well but kind of like you. Don't get me wrong, chums are still significant in many aspects, but they cannot make a good business support network based primarily on personal relationships. The people that will support your business are your coalitions ( the more business you have, the more they benefit ) and clients ( the more successful you make them, the more they support you financially, at least ).

I believe many Entrepreneurs and Sales professional would agree with me that it is lonely when you have to do everything yourself especially at the beginning. No one will be there steering you and giving you sincere advice about your business. Most are too busy with their own stuff these days. And this is why a supportive network is important.

The best way to get people supporting your business is to:- Support Other Businesses First. I only ...
... get to understand this when I join BNI and one of the founding members Stephen Mok shares with me about the philosophy Givers Gain. One thing to notice is that you'll get the maximum benefit out of this principle when you give first to the people that are in your Business Contact Sphere. As an example, if i am a Web Designer, my contact sphere will be Web Developer, website hosting Company and web marketing companies.

When you start to give business referrals to your contact sphere, they can in turn wish to refer you back companies. Only once these referrals start to occur, then you are prepared to move onto the next stage collaboration. It is in the collaboration stage where we'll start to care about other people's's business. Why? Easy, because your success is directly related to your partners' success!

Now, imagine this. If you start to join forces with other businesses ( could be a form of Integration promoting etc ), do you suspect they will care more about your companies and give you advice on how it's possible for you to improve your business? Definitely yes! I am always looking forward to opportunities to talk to someone in my BNI chapter about my business plan because I mostly receive feedback primarily based on the members' experiences. This is one of the invaluable lessons that I learnt after joining BNI.

If you are new to business or is considering to join BNI, i hope that my post will help you in many ways.
About Author:
The author is a business consultant and has clients in the ice cream buffet and drinking games businesses.