A few weeks back I wrote a short missive entitled “Who Knows You?” Today, I am undertaking to republish that article with some minor modifications. Please let me know if the concept of effective business networking resonates with you. More importantly, share this article with your networks.

Have you ever heard the saying: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? While that may be true to a point, it’s only part of the story. There is another saying, that goes like this: “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”

Think of it this way, who knows you, and how well they understand what you do translates into their ability to help you to grow your business. The point of business networking is to identify and establish relationships with persons that can become referral partners for you and your business.

Think in terms of natural partnerships where you can help each other to grow your respective businesses. What do I mean by that? Let’s take a realtor for example. Who might be a natural partner? I can think of a few: Mortgage brokers, home inspectors, real estate lawyers, human resource consultants. There would be others, but you get my point.

For instance, in my business, I work primarily with select business owners, to help them manage risks associated with partnership agreements and employees. We use proven financial tools to provide the necessary cash to address hardships due to loss of life, health and abilities. This also includes employee benefit plans. So who would be the ideal networking partner for me? I think in terms of corporate lawyers, commercial lenders, human resource consultants, etc. Can you think of any others?

What about for your business? Think in terms of your natural referral partners and your efforts to network and establish effective business relationships with people in those industries. Do you have established referral partners? Do you understand what their strengths are and who would be an ideal client for them? Do they understand what your strengths are and who would be an ideal client for you? Could you use more relationships like that? Would your business benefit from more effective business referral relationships? To be fair, establishing effective business referral relationships takes time and effort, but the return on that investment can be very rewarding. There are many networking organizations out there that can help.

For me I am a proud member of BNI Enterprise. We meet every Tuesday morning in the Ellerslie area of Edmonton, Alberta. We are intent on growing our chapter, and our respective businesses considerably this year. We are interviewing prospective members for a number of available seats. Your profession might be one of them. If this interests you, please give me a call at 780-945-1307, or send me a message here, and we can discuss the details.

I sincerely look forward to hearing from you.