When I began my networking journey, I attended any and all networking/meetup events as time permitted. Every event was fair game! Today I am much more strategic in my networking endeavors. I discovered which events and organizations gave me the best return on my investment of time as well as how to be an effective, networker.
Networking in its purest form is simply talking to people, making connections and developing rapport to grow our circle of influence. For most of us in the wedding industry, building a network means meeting people we can do business with or who will do business with us, or refer people who will do business with us, are our ultimate goals.
It works like this: If you do a good job on a wedding for a bride, she might tell three to five of her colleagues, family and friends about you. Whereas, when you build a network of say 10 to 20 strong advocates, they may each tell only one person about your, however your “exposure” is now more than doubled – With the right network, the ultimate in “
word of mouth” marketing takes place. You promote your network, and your network promotes you.
