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Back to the Mentor's Index |
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In this
section we post questions
from members and responses
from The
Mentor. |
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 “'How many networking organizations should I plan on
belonging to in order to grow my network?” |
 Your question is a good one which,
like many worthwhile questions, does not have one simple answer. First, you
need to have set your overall marketing objectives. Networking, while a key
business to business marketing tool, is only one of many. Once you have
determined how you are going to market your business and how much of your time
(25% is a generally accepted number) you are going to devote to marketing you
will have a better idea how much time you have for "networking organizations".
If you want to maximize the benefit of participation you should plan to join a
committee or help in some other way to speed your recognition.
The
watchword here is quality not quantity. Since your networking goal is
developing trust with others who can help you grow your business, it is far
better to pick one or two groups that contain people who fit your overall
objective and then spend your valuable time getting to know them. Keep in mind
that you may decide to spend some meeting time learning and this may mean that
some of your meeting attendance budget may have to be allocated to meeting with
others in your field, for example. SPC is a group that fills both objectives
for it's members by devoting some time to networking and some time to learning.
I suspect that the average "involved" SPC member spends six to ten hours per
month involved with the organization.
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