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By admin | April 27, 2010
Vintage Estee Lauder
Offline Networking for business entrepreneurs
How can you network your business offline? How about, Saturday Sister Networking?
I tagged the phrase after thinking that some of the best ways to connect with people regarding your business or brand is with other females who have businesses.
Its a pleasurable experience to chit-chat with fellow female entrepreneurs, swap tips, and discuss the possibility of linking services to provide one big service or product.
It doesn't have to be done on a Saturday, but it's a good day for connecting over a cup of coffee or in a place where there are a lot of ladies, like a beauty salon or boutique, for instance.
It's not such an new idea either. Estee Lauder used to sell her products and give beauty advice at her local hair salon and the rest is history.
If you have an online business you want to promote or an info product, then chatting with like minded ladies is a good way to promote it.
Today I had to meet with a beauty consultant as I have a make-up/skin consultation client next week (yes, I still do make-up artistry and consultations) and she uses specific products. I wanted to know a bit more about these and pick her up a goodie bag of samples.
When hooking up with people you always get, ‘how are you doing?' and ‘what are you doing?' That's always a good invitation to discuss your business with them.
Instead of going for the hard sell, it's always good to chat first about your excitement in regards to what you're doing. This tends to get people even more interested, especially ladies; because I don't know about you, but I love to hear when people are genuinely excited about something they are doing.
At some point they will comment on what you've said and hopefully that comment will be another invitation for you to show them a card, or write down a website address for them to check out, or possibly as I have done, get on the smart phone and let them see the site itself.
When I'm Saturday Sister Networking (or any day Sister Networking) the onus is not on what business or service I can sell but what I can get people really fired up with enthusiasm for. It's giving people a clear idea of what's going on in your life that hopefully cements in their mind enough so they will want to check it out, offer a lead, or at the very least remember your name if they discuss your service or business to friends, family and co-workers.
My coaching consulting friend and I have often discussed how this sort of thing is instinctual for ladies in general but it's often seen as a chore when you say, ‘I have to promote myself'.
If you want to promote anything you do, you need to be not only friendly and approachable but also ready to discuss at any time what you want to promote. Shyness is not optional.
Also, we seem to think that promotion online is all we need to do for business growth, but there are still so many people who don't really go online or use social networking. So, this is a great way to actually get offline and go out there and meet people.
So back to today, several business cards were given out to the consultant who was interested in my make-up artistry work in conjunction with photography work with Rachel Spivey . What started as a trip to discuss one of my clients ended with me chatting about mine and Rachel's work. In turn the consultant was excited about possibly talking to her friends about our combined service for use with their theatre group.
The next stop was a nail salon where a lady has started to sell her costume rings there twice a week. We'd met very briefly before knew each other to say hello, but there's nothing like sitting down and really chewing the fat of business and services. Like many new business entrepreneurs it's not always easy to see the bigger picture of chatting with strangers, or indeed other Sisters in business. Luckily my work in retail and modeling help – because I've been almost moulded to the art of go-getting and talking to complete strangers! But sometimes when you're starting out and its with your own business venture you wonder if anyone will be as enthused as you. The answer again is generally women are excited by the enthusiasm of other women.
The connection with make-up artistry and rings selling isn't very strong, but what about combining mine and Rachel's skills and showcasing this ladies rings in shoots? On the hop I suggested to her that maybe she could hire out some of her pieces for shoots that Rachel and I are planning to do, especially the boudoir shoots where flamboyant vintage looks will be the theme. Why should her rings sit idle in between home and the nail bar, why not have them make some money just by being hired out?
At first she was perplexed so I had to explain more benefits, which was totally cool. I mentioned that any pictures that were used for advertising purposes (on our sites) would be linked to her name (another pro point for her getting a showcase site done) and that also it may be the case that a woman loves the piece so much she decides at the end of the shoot to buy it. Money for hire + money for a sale = Fabulous! She was so excited about this that she immediately gave me her details and said she would call me when she got her new business cards through (as I mentioned to her I liked to keep other people's business cards as well as my own for cross promotion purposes) and also to arrange an informal drink to meet Rachel and see her portfolio.
The whole adventure took a morning to do, and it was fun. No hassle, no planning really, other than having business cards to hand and being open to chat and to listen. The real beauty of Sister Networking is you are sharing what makes you happy – if it's work related that's a big bonus. There is no fussy board room to contend with, nor pre-rehearsed promotional spiel. It's just girls, chatting and let's face it – we're all really good at that.
Vanessa Reece
http://www.ignitethescreen.com
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