Everyone needs to network: entrepreneurs, small business owners, job seekers!But does everyone maximize the benefits of networking?

The purpose of networking is to build relationships so you will get leads from someone you know, or from someone who knows someone you know. When you attend a networking event the purpose is to meet business people from various industries to get exposure.

What networking is not?

Networking is not a numbers game; you need to focus on quality and not on quantity. Some people think that they had a successful event when they have collected 30, 40 or more business cards, but they are missing the real point. How many of these 30 or 40 people will you be able to follow-up? How many of these 30 or 40 will follow-up with you? What is the purpose to collect a huge number of business cards that will end up in a shoe-box on one of your shelves?

Networking is not a place to sell. You have to be prepared to give your elevator pitch to introduce yourself, not give a sales pitch. If you attend an event expecting to find a client to close a sale right away, chances are you will be very disappointed. Furthermore the other attendees might not appreciate your attitude.

What networking is?

Networking is more than just shaking hands and collecting business cards.It is about building relationships and being committed to help other business professionals.It is about the quality of your contacts and not the amount of your contacts.

It is about consistency. The best is to belong to two or three groups, attend their events regularly, get to know the other members, and in exchange they will get to know you and trust you. When you see the same people over and over you develop a strong and relationship with them. The benefit of building relationships with a committed group of people will result in new leads for your business.

It is about patience. The benefit will not appear overnight, and this is why you need to follow up with your contacts. Networking is like dating, one meeting is not enough to know someone. It will probably take some time, some meetings, some lunches or some drinks before you really start doing business together.

Here are some tips on how to maximize the benefits of a networking event: Know your goals. Are you looking for leads, partners, new clients, services?
* Bring your business cards and a pen to take notes on the back of the cards you receive.
* Have an effective 15 to 30 second elevator pitch. Learn how to sell yourself before your services or products. People want to hear about you first and when they know you and trust you, they will buy your services or refer you to someone else.
* Have a brochure and/or a web site. Some people will probably want to hear more about your business later, so give them the opportunity to get the information they are looking for.
* Meet people, ask about their business or services. Be curious and ask about them. people love to speak about themselves, so ask questions and listen to their answers.
* Be a problem solver. people will be more interested in you if you tell them how you can solve their problem instead of just hearing your story.
* Go to people; don’t wait for them to come to you. Some people are very shy, they will be very happy if you make the first move.
* Go to events with a friend, a colleague, a client, and introduce people to each other.
* Send a thank you note or email to your new contacts. Thank them for their time and reintroduce yourself in a few lines. They met lots of people during the event and your business card doesn’t say everything about you. So it is good to reinforce your introduction.
* Give them the link to your web site. Tell them about your newsletter, if you have one. This is the best way to stay in touch on a regular basis.
* Schedule follow-up meetings with the people you had a good connection with, or if you think that you can help each other.
* Do it again and again. You will see that networking can expand your contacts, which will definitely help grow your business.

* Be prepared when you attend a networking event.

Stop wasting your time attending every event and start growing your business with networking, learn more about “Power of Networking Secrets”.

In this 7 step program, you will find everything you need on how to maximize your networking results.You will learn: how to create an outstanding business card – how to polish an elevator pitch which will hook your audience so that people will remember you – how to create a 7 step follow-up system to turn more prospects into clients – how to use your newsletter to promote your products or services without hard selling – how to create strategic alliances to grow our business faster.
You can read more about it at “Power of Networking Secrets”

(c) 2006-2010 Biba F. Pédron

Even though I’ve been known as ‘The Connection Queen’ for quite a few years, it took me a while to really get into Social Networking. When I started Biba4Network, I discovered Ryze, a site for networking. I used it for a while, but found it was too time consuming. I didn’t put in the effort and didn’t get to know the program like I should have. I ended up spending about 2 hours per day, and never got any business out of it. Then I joined Linkedin, created my profile on it, responded to people who asked to be connected but once again, didn’t use it in an effective way.

Then came facebook, and everything changed! So many of my friends who are coaches or consultants where on facebook. Over 10% of Internet users all over the world use facebook.A few months ago, I finally filled out my facebook profile, ‘friended’ all the people I knew on the site, and connected with their friends. Navigating on facebook is pretty much the same as going to a live networking event, and talking to the people you know and the people they know or introduce you to. However, there are many advantages to e-networking over live networking. Compared to a live event, you can view a person’s profile even before you connect, so it is much easier to contact people on your field or have the same interest than you or are your target market.

Social networking is one of the fastest growing and most inexpensive ways to reach your target market. You can invite people to visit your website, send them a private message, or mention that you already have friends in common. It is very important that you complete you profile with as much information as possible about your business, so when people come to your page, they will see immediately the benefit of being connecting with you.

At first, It took me about two weeks to really begin to navigate facebook to contact the people I already knew and to answer to their messages. It was time consuming, but now it is just a question of an hour or two a week to follow up with people, send them messages, contact new people, expand my business, promote events, invite people to seminars, teleclasses, or programs. In essence, it takes only a few hours a week to help your business grow. Social networking really has changed the way we interact. People are more willing to work with others they can see from a distance or have friends in common with. It comes down to having common interests or goals while also having a set purpose.

Social networking definitely changed they way I network. Since I moved to Miami about a year and a half ago, I don’t attend many live networking events anymore. With the social websites, I can instantaneously reach a large number of people all over the world; while at a live networking event I would meet mostly local people, and a lot less of them.

Another advantage of online networking is that you won’t forget names and faces, you have them right in front of you along with what the person does, what they like and dislike and what their goals are – if you’re networking for business. You don’t have to worry about losing someone’s business card or forgetting what another person does.

The other advantage of social networking beside the fact that everything works faster than with live networking is that it cost a lot less than advertising. Every business owner knows that they need to advertise to promote their business but very often the expenses are misdirected because the advertising is not always targeted to the right people. With Social Networking, each time you send a private email, or put a comment on people’s page, you can mention your website or your product, post a video, promote your events, so everybody all over the word can see it and the best part is that it will not cost you a dime. Social networking just cost you our time to do research, promotion and follow-up, so make sure to organize your time wisely in order to be effective without burning yourself and spend over time doing it.

The most efficient way to use online social networking is to dedicate an hour or two a week as part of your marketing plan, to promote your business, and stick to it.

Join me on facebook and let’s connect NOW.

Need help to get effective strategies to networking on social networking websites? You’re definitely not the only one. The good news is that I’ve developed a 5-step program that will help you to do it all to turn more prospects into clients.

Get your own copy NOW at www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com

(c) 2008 Biba F. Pédron

With all the catastrophes all around the world recently: Haiti, Italy, Portugal, Chili, and in my native country France. Just last weekend thousands of people died in France due to a violent storm and subsequent flooding. It is difficult to concentrate and not be concerned by what is going on and thoughts of the now homeless and grieving people around the world. It can make our problems seem minor, our gripes trivial in comparison with what those people are dealing with. We sometimes can take solice in the fact that as the victims of these natural disasters heal, so can we heal our own problems.

People are still blaming the economy for their lack of clients. Just like our inability to fight mother nature, we are also quite powerless against the economic state of affairs. However, we can plan and learn to survive, even prosper.

Do you have strategies in place to weather the storms? Do you have a list that really makes you money? How many hours a week do you really spend promoting your business?

In case you missed my call on February 25th you still access the recording by signing up here

The teleclass is 90-minutes of jam-packed information, so get ready to take a lot of notes. During this call you will be given the opportunity to get my special offer; you don’t want to miss this!

“Give Me Just 3 hours and I’ll Give You My Entire List Building System and Coach You Through The Step By Step Process to Customize it to Your Own Business to Attract Clients Like Crazy…”

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Networking is an integral part of today’s business and personal world. Everyone agrees that networking is a must to grow a business. Yet many people have challenges on how to effectively use and integrate connections in their business.

The most important aspect of networking is your first impression. Are you prepared to walk the room? Do you know when and how to start and end conversations? Do you have the right follow-up plan to solidify your connections?

Shyness is a problem with many attendees. The fear of your own shyness can be debilitating. You can overcome your shyness by following a clear step-by-step plan.

I have always been a shy person. When I started attending events in New York I had two major challenges. First, I was shy; I didn’t know how to approach people; and second, my English was not fluent; even when people started speaking with me I had trouble understanding what they said. It was not an ideal way to communicate effectively.

At first I used to stay in a corner, waiting for people to come to me. But after a while, I noticed other shy people who were alone. I decided to speak with them because they seemed to be more like me. Our combined shyness turned out to be an asset to connect with each other and build confidence, instead of using our shyness as an excuse or a hinderence.

Turn your negatives into positives.

I usually started a conversation with another shy person like this: “Hi, is it your first time in this group?” or “Hi, I like your dress or jacket”; anything that could help me to start the conversation. Then if the person was open to speak, I would follow the conversation and at some point we would speak about our businesses. I don’t jump into business right away. My strategy is to establish a connection about something other than business and tie it into our businesses later in the conversation.

After finally getting my feet wet with one person I fell into another shyness trap: sticking to the same person for too long. Since it was so difficult for me to start speaking with one person, I would tend to never leave his or her side for fear of having to deal with my shyness once again. This defeats the purpose of a networking event, which is to connect with promote your service or product to many people in a short period of time.

You should spend no more then five to ten minutes per conservation by following my step-by-step networking playbook. Introduce yourself and let them introduce themselves. Talk about your business and leave an opportunity to follow-up with them later and then close the conversation and let them go to meet other people.If you are shy do not try to break up a group of people. You will be setting yourself up for failure, which will feed your shyness bug. Remember to look for other people who are alone and approach them. Start with a casual conversation: ask them if it is their first time in this group, if they know anybody in the room, if they already got clients or referrals from this group and then ask about their business.

Networking is about listening. It is much more important to listen to what people have to say and try to help them and solve their problem, than to tell your story. Being shy is an advantage because you take more care to observe the room before jumping in and because you are a good listener. People love to talk and their favorite things to talk about are things they are proud of. What makes you an ideal contact is the fact that you will listen to ideas and descriptions of businesses that make sense and you will remember them the next time you meet.

Extroverts can have a tendency to jump from person to person while giving their own few minutes of speech and moving on. Instead of caring about what the other person has to say, they deliver their own spiel and don’t even give the potential contact the time to deliver his or her elevator speech. This person will be remembered as pushy, uncaring, flaky; or they won’t be remembered at all! Not the best approach.

Abbreviated Step-by-Step Playbook:

1. Get comfortable being alone while taking in the sights and sounds of the room for the first 5 minutes;

2. Pick out 2-3 shy looking people in the room that you will network with;

3. Begin your conversations with your prepared or ad-lib a line about a specific characteristic of the person or something/someone interesting within sight;

4. Introduce yourself and let them introduce themselves;

5. Give a brief description of your business, but not too much! You want to keep them interested in learning more;

6. Exchange your contact information and be sure to get their information;

7. On the back of their business card write down three key elements: 1. The date and time you met, 2. categorize their urgency in your business needs, 3. jot down something that struck you about the person’s business that you will remember them by;

8. Close the conversation and let them go meet other people. Now go talk to someone else before the shyness bug bites you again!

Use your shyness as challenge to connect meaningfully with more people, to make a better impression and to become a good listener.

After all, networking is all about them and not about you. Follow-up effectively and you will have plenty of opportunities later to introduce your business. You will be remembered as a go-to person and a listener. And we all know that listeners are great problem solvers!

Stop wasting your time attending every event and start growing your business with effective networking strategies. My clients call me “The Connection Queen”, because they grew their businesses by 30% in less than 3 months using my strategies. Would You Like To Know How? Check Power of Networking Secrets to discover my strategies

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron

Social media has taken over how we network with our friends and family. Whether you want to be a part of it, you hear about it every day. Every TV show, celebrity and practically every politician is now on Facebook and/or Twitter, trying to get as many friends or followers as possible.

Ok you are not BCS, or Fox News, but you are trying to grow your business and client base.

It is too social for business purpose? Is it appropriate for what you do? But the question I hear the most is “How can I use it without spending hours on it”? There is a fine line between personal and business online networking today. If you like to keep your personal and business life separate, one way to protect your personal life and business life from overlapping too much is to have separate Twitter and Facebook accounts for personal and business accounts.

Is it appropriate for what you do?

Almost always. Today’s markets are run by social media marketing. Facebook recently sold for an unprecedented $4.1 billion dollars, Twitter is purportedly in the works to be sold for over $1 billion dollars, and the list goes on. Online social networking is big business right now and it looks like it is here to stay.

It is imperative that you use social media in your business. The current technology allows you to promote your product or service faster with less cost than ever before. Get your profile started on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are many more, but those are the base requirements.

How do you use online social networking without spending too much time on it? The more time you put in while you are setting up your profile and your initial contacts, follow-up methods and links to your website and blog(s), the less time you will need to spend daily, weekly and monthly maintaining your profiles. It is very important to take some time to perfect your profile and maximize the information available about you and your business.

Social media can be overwhelming if you don’t know how to use it or do not have structure in place to prevent yourself from getting ’sucked in’. Once you have perfected your profile and added your links, dedicate 5 or 10 minutes a day to post messages/tweets to communicate with your followers. Even if you post only once a day to start, it will allow you to be seen and heard by your prospective clients. In your Tweets and Facebook updates, give general information about your topic, share a resource, re-tweet someone, invite contacts to your events, mention a new post on your blog or new product or anything else with which you can grab their attention in just a sentence or two.

Dedicate 1 or 2 hours a week to follow up with your most pressing contacts personally. Send these contacts individual messages. Also befriend your friends’ friends that may have use of your product or service; people who have friends in common are more likely to add you. Invite more people to join your social network. Stay focused on your target market. Don’t waste your time checking things that are not related to your business. Join groups related to your business, participate on discussion, so you will get more exposure.

The people on LinkedIn are probably more business oriented, try to see how you could start some partnerships to trade clients that could use multiple services. Using social media, your main goal should be to direct people to your website or blog to sign up for your newsletter and eventually purchase your product or service. Have a strategy and a system in place to follow-up with your contacts on a regular basis, so with consistency, you will be able to turn most of those contacts into clients.

To learn more strategies like this one, on How To Turn More Networking Contacts Into Business Boosting Clients In 7 Simple Steps check www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron

Are you one of those who has nightmares about attending networking events? Do you dread meeting contacts because you have had bad results? You are not alone.

The number one problem is a perception issue; most people who attend networking events expect results immediately. They attend networking events with the only purpose of making a sale right a way. When a sale doesn’t happen and they come home empty handed (save the hundreds of business cards in their pockets) they are disappointed.

Networking is about consistency; results doesn’t happen overnight. You need to build relationship before your contacts even consider working with you or sending you referrals. They won’t buy from you after a five to ten minute conversation.

One of the biggest mistakes in networking is a poor follow-up system. If you contact someone a couple of times, don’t get the results you expect and then give up you are making a mistake. And this is a mistake that will reinforce your hatred of networking.
In marketing we say that repetition in key. Statistics show that people need to see or hear the same message at least seven times to even noticed it.

Do you follow-up at least 7 times with your contacts?

In networking consistency is key and the only way to be consistent is to have at least a 7 contact steps in your follow-up system.

If you don’t have a system in your business, you don’t have a business.

In order to turn most of your contacts into paying clients, you need to have a follow-up system to keep in touch with them on a regular basis. They need to get to know you, learn more about you and your business to consider your business worthy of their time. It is not their job you get to know you, but your responsibility to give them information about you and your business on a regular basis. You do this by sending emails, mailing postcards, fliers, brochures, calling, using blogs, videos, and any other media that you can use to give them information.

What information to include is tricky. Don’t give them information about you, but information about what you can do for them. You probably heard it before: “what’s in it for me?” If by giving them valuable information about your services, you give them a solution to solve their problem, you win their business. When they need services they will come to you and nobody else.

Don’t become frustrated; don’t stop networking with people after only 2 or 3 contacts, don’t give up. Keep following-up and you will see results and will see more and more of your contacts turned as clients. All you need to do is maintain consistency even when they become clients. Don’t forget about them just because they bought once, keep following-up and they will become repeat clients.

Give your contacts a hint of your products or services. In the long run you will find that they will give back to you by buying from you and/or sending you referrals.

Contact more than just a few times and automate your contact process. Keep doing it and you will be surprised how people will come back to you.

Building a list and creating a follow-up system is an integral part of Power of Networking Secrets. You will discover the step-by-step process to integrate and customize simple, yet effective strategies to put your follow-up system on auto-pilot. You will do the set-up work once then let your system work for you! Work once, then your system will work for you!

You can learn more about here “Power of Networking Secrets”

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron

Who Else Wants To Learn ‘Secrets’ That Most Small Business Owners Will Never Know About How To Really Build A List To Attract Clients Like Crazy…

Are You tired of coming home from networking events with a pocket full of business cards, and no bankable results? What if you could attract all clients you want just by networking? What if you had a constant stream of new clients always flowing into your business, instead of chasing them?

So let me ask you a question:
Does YOUR List Really Make YOU Money?

“Give Me Just 60 minutes and I ‘ll reveal and share the strategies I use to run 2 international businesses from home for the past 6 years.The Money is in YOUR List, so I will show you how to turn your contacts into gold to attract more clients, increase your traffic, responses, sales and profits…

During This Teleclass ” Secrets To Build Your List to Attract Clients Like Crazy” You’ll Learn How to :

-Get your networking contacts to visit your website AND join your mailing list or newsletter

-Attract NEW clients with a free offer

-The easy and successful way to get subscribers to actually read your messages

-Create a consistent and rewarding relationship with your readers

-One simple word that will increase your email open rate

-Avoid the biggest mistake that entrepreneurs make with their list

-Avoid the one thing that can cost you thousands of dollars

-Get your readers to TAKE ACTION!

Get a Jump on your competitors by learning the skills that most small business owners get to utilize.

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Recently I had met with a new client from France here in Miami, to teach him the steps to start his US business. He found me through a mutual French contact who referred him to me. This contact also wants to start his own business in the US next year. This is actually the fifth referral he sent me since we met online a year an a half ago. I learned from my new client that they both met only two months ago at the gym in south of France! Their conversation moved to starting a business in the US and my contact said “I have the perfect person for you. I know a consultant that helps French entrepreneurs start their businesses in the US and she can definitely help you reach your goals and dreams.

“He is a raving fan and that’s what you need to look for: people to promote your business. Nothing else has a better impact on your target market; not advertisements, not newspapers, not newsletters, not blogs. (Just remember that without the other tools prospective clients won’t be able to verify your legitimacy.)

I can say to a potential client “I am great and THE ONLY contact for you to start your business in the US”, but why would they believe me? Now if a client or a prospect says to somebody else that I am THE solution for them, the sale is already done.

How can you get more of those raving fans that will send you referrals on a regular basis?

1. You have to make sure that people know exactly what you do. Explain your services very clearly so your contacts can adequately understand and repeat the important parts. If people don’t understand what you do, they is no way that they will buy from you or send you referrals. Have a very clear and concise elevator pitch.

2. Follow-up with your contacts, clients or prospects. Contact them on a regular basis to see how you can help them. They will appreciate that you take the time to do it. For example this Frenchman who sent me 5 referrals in the last year and a half receives my bi-monthly newsletter, but I also call him at least every 3 months to see how his projects evolve and how I can help him.

Don’t rely only on virtual contact, even if you don’t meet in person, call them. I never meet this contact in person, he first found me via my website. Within the first few months we built a relationship and our relationship lead to him sending me referrals.

3. Put your follow-up system on auto-pilot; it will work for you for the following months and even years from now. Statistics show that 80% of sales are lost due to lack of follow-up. Lots of clients tell me that “Oh yes I follow-up with my contacts. I called them once but they were not interested by my services.” Then they tell me they don’t want to bother them again or they don’t know what to say the next time. Have an effective follow-up system in place so you won’t have to worry about what to say and when to say it. The system is designed to do the work so you don’t have to. You will attract a lot more clients and a lot more raving fans that will send you referrals on a regular basis.

Creating a follow-up system is an integral part of Power of Networking Secrets. You will discover the step-by-step process to integrate and customize simple, yet effective strategies to put your follow-up system on auto-pilot. You will do the set-up work once then let your system work for you! Check Out “Power of Networking Secrets” NOW

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron