Author: Adrianne Phillips

7 Ways to Practice Networking

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

7 Ways to Practice Networking

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Networking is a skill that you need to cultivate over time. As the old saying goes: “practice makes perfect.” Networking is an essential skill that will help you build relationships and create strategic partnerships. In this article, we will tell you about the ways you can polish your networking skills and empower your success.

7 Ways You Can Practice to Optimize your Networking Skills

Ask A Simple Question to Break the Ice

When you first begin networking, it can be difficult to approach new people. If you do not know the other person very well, you must think of a way to get the conversation started. To get the conversation going, ask a basic question. This question can be anything from, “Where do you live?” to “How long have you been working in the industry?”

Curiosity is Key

Be curious about your networking partner and their company. Ask them their motivation for attending the event and what are their long-term goals for the company. Your partner will love disclosing this information to you, as people love talking about themselves and their experiences.

Mention a Shared Experience

Have you ever run into someone who you met at a past networking event? Mention when and where it was to spark their memory. You can mention any dynamic speakers or great seminars that you had both attended. For example, “What was your favorite speaker at yesterday’s conference?” This should get a constructive conversation going in full force.

Open Your Eyes

When approaching someone, take a quick peek at them and find some details. Observe what they are wearing or carrying. For instance, are they carrying a book in their bag? If so, ask them about it. You can ask questions or make comments on those details as another way to fuel your dialogue.

Build Relationships on What You Have in Common

While in your dialogue, try to find some things you may have in common with your networking partner. This commonality can be professional or personal, as long as it helps facilitate the conversation. For instance, do you and your networking partner like the same genre of music, or did you have similar majors in college? The key is to find some connection between the two of you to build win-win relationships.

Learn from the Differences

On the opposite side of the spectrum, discover what differences you may have with your networking partner. Listen to what the other person has to say, and do not challenge it if you do not agree with it. An opposite point of view on any issue can bring on a great learning opportunity for you.

Be Genuine at All Times

The most important element of networking is being yourself. Do not ever put up a false front when building profitable relationships because it can backfire on you in the long run. Be your true self at all times while networking, and search for genuine, quality connections with others.

Promotora Systems, Inc. can be your guide to building profitable relationships through effective networking. Contact us today to begin your business development journey.

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3 Ways Online Communities Foster Networking

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

3 Ways Online Communities Foster Networking

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Today, online communities are as popular as traditional business communities. In many ways, they are even better since you can grow your business significantly in less time. These communities can also help you stand out from your competition and increase your overall customer satisfaction, engagement, and brand loyalty. In this article, we will tell you three ways that online communities foster networking, build win-win relationships, and help find new clients.

How to Optimize Your Networking with Online Communities

You Can Identify Relevant Connections

Online communities create a link between quality connections and your business. This is a wonderful way to build relationships as your members will feel like they have a place where they are heard. Your users can communicate with fellow members in various ways such as posting questions and participating in discussions, where they will expect to receive a response from another member of the community. If your online community is able to create, share innovations, and function with each other, it can significantly empower your success.

It Drives Referrals Significantly

Customer advocates can help you find new clients with great lead generation strategies through referrals. If you implement online community advocacy, it nurtures those advocates and it acknowledges the value these individuals are bringing to your organization. You can recognize these brand ambassadors in many ways including badges to put the advocate’s contributions in the spotlight.

You can also give these advocates information in advance where they will be knowledgeable about your upcoming products and services coming. Then you can encourage these advocates to connect with their peers and other communities to begin discussions and help people find the best solutions to their problems. This personalized relationship strategy will build loyalty for your brand and encourage consumers to keep purchasing your products or service.

Online Communities Empower You Success with Shared Growth

You can grow your business by developing relationships with your online community. According to a recent study, branded online communities offer an incredible return on your investment with effective network management. When you have consistent and ongoing engagement with your online community, you can create meaningful interactions with your customer base.

Promotora Systems Inc. can show you why networking is important for business growth and how to make your business profitable through networking. Contact us today to get started with our network management services.

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10 Ways to Generate Engagement Within Your Online Community

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

10 Ways to Generate Engagement Within Your Online Community

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Have you recently noticed a decrease in engagement with your online community? If you are unsure how to re-establish and increase online community engagement, we can help. You can grow your business by developing relationships with your online community through several different methods. Read on to learn about these relationship management tips and lead generation strategies. 

10 Ways to Generate Engagement with Your Online Community

Ask-Me-Anything Sessions

The ask-me-anything sessions are a forum where your users can ask any question they wish. This is the perfect opportunity to increase engagement as your users like it when they can get the information they are looking for. They can receive this information from either other community members or an expert in your industry.

You should have these AMAs as a regular event on your content calendar. You can also tailor these sessions to events happening such as the promotion of a new product. Another way is to study your community metrics, past popular discussions, frequently used search terms, and other resources.

Provide A Special Time For Industry Tips

Another way to engage your community members is to provide a specific time that provides content just for industry tips. Provide a how-to content item at a regular interval on your content calendar. For instance, in this forum, you can share technology tips for interacting with the community.

Besides providing information, you can also increase engagement from your community members. You can ask your community members to complete any action that can benefit the community as a whole. It can be something as simple as updating their profile picture, making a recommendation, or responding to a thread. Any action on the part of a community member is engagement.

Provide Seed Content

Seed content is content containing resources or questions that the community manager posts on behalf of the community. This content intrigues members to respond and creates organic interaction between community members. The best way to establish your seed content is to study your most active community members and their actions in your online community, and base the content on their actions. When your community needs an increase in engagement, you can post this content that will drive engagement from these members.

Have A Community Member Spotlight

Periodically, you should put one of your most active community members in the spotlight. These members will appreciate the chance of recognition and love the chance to learn about other members. This is one of the best ways to build relationships with your community and add value to your network. For instance, your spotlighted member may have their own product or service to promote, and this rule of reciprocity will add value to connections and increase engagement.

Re-Engage with Inactive Users

If you notice a lull with some of your community members and they are not as active as they once were, find ways to engage them in your community again. To do this, study your inactive members and try to understand why they no longer participate. Are they inactive because they don’t know how to participate in the community? Target these users with a specific call to action (CTA) such as updating their profile information or participating in a quick poll. You can also create smaller, more specific discussion groups or find ways that can make them participate in the larger discussion groups that are not intimidating to them.

A Quarterly Newsletter

A community newsletter sent to members is another great way to generate engagement with your community members. This is a highlight of all your community’s activities and enables you to recognize some key members. The recognition will likely increase your community engagement. This creates a value-added connector framework by providing members with their value and increased awareness of your brand.

Engage with the Company in A Mutually Beneficial Way

A Company Corner is an opportunity for your company’s departments to engage with community members that mutually benefits both entities. This also gives your company the chance to nurture your organizational relationships. You should feature each department in your company at least once a year, while some others, such as product development, can be highlighted several times a year.

Create A Personal Sub-Community For Members

This is a dedicated thread that may run once a week where your community can share their professional and personal updates. This is more of an informal thread that can keep engagement going through effective community moderation. You members can get to know each other on a more personal level through this space specifically through more personal discussions.

Hold A Special Promotion or Contest

A surefire way to increase community engagement is through promotions or contests. You can do this in many ways including a trivia contest where you can ask users to guess industry-related facts about your company. You can also increase engagement with referrals. This is where you ask members to refer someone to your community and both of you get entered into a promotional contest.

Establish Community Leadership Programs

Take your most active community members and designate them as community leaders. Ask these leaders to begin community discussions and offer them the opportunity to promote their own initiatives in the thread. This engagement tactic is a great way to lead to many more organic discussions as the community members interact more with each other.

Promotora Systems Inc. can assist you with all your network management needs. We can show you how to make your business profitable through relationships. Contact us today to begin the next phase of your business development.

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5 Reasons Why Building an Online Community is Important for Your Brand

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

5 Reasons Why Building an Online Community is Important for Your Brand

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A small business entrepreneur must start an online community to build relationships and establish brand awareness. Many companies today rely on social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn to engage customers. However, if your company has a website, a technical team, and a marketing department already in place, there is no reason why you cannot create your own online community to build profitable relationships.

There are many benefits to having a thriving online community. In this article, we will tell you the reasons why building your online community is leading your brand to the next level and will empower your success.

5 Reasons Why Online Communities are Beneficial To Your Brand

It Reduces Your Support Costs and Increases Revenue

Online communities decrease your operating costs while increasing revenue. This is a win for any company. Leaders in the industry report that an online community reduces their support cost by enabling members to reach out to each other to solve any problems instead of racing out to the company’s call center for help.

Increased revenue for your business happens when community members spend an average of 19% more than people that do not engage in these communities. These community members are usually willing to pay premiums for products and services, as well as an increase in interest to purchase products.

It Increases Online Engagement and Retention

Consumers love to connect with a brand and other online community members. This builds loyalty to the brand, and therefore this loyalty increases retention. Your customers also want to know that they are being heard. A direct response from the company about their concerns is enough to increase the customer’s loyalty. Even if a community member’s suggestions are not adopted, the consumer will appreciate this acknowledgment.

If an online community influences a minimum of a company’s revenue by 16 percent, an average of 64 percent of community members will have strong engagement. If a company influences less than 15 percent of the company’s revenue, the engagement will decrease to only 26 percent. This is the primary reason why these online communities are the best forum for customer engagement and retention.

Product and Service Feedback

A community forum for your customers to provide product feedback is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness. Consumers love the fact that they can provide feedback directly to a company about their products or services. In these forums, your customers can tell you exactly what they want from your product or service. This feedback can help you tweak your product for even better sales.

Another great aspect of community forums is that they are cost-effective. When you try to obtain customer feedback through surveys, market research, or direct calling, it can be quite an expense for your company to obtain that information. You can get the same results by cultivating your online community.

Promotion of Future Products and Services

When you build a branded online community, you can establish a virtual marketplace. You already have engaged community members as well as paying customers. Your online community gives you a place to promote your new products and services.

There are also lower acquisition costs associated with an online community. These communities are easily accessible through search engines like Google. This is also another way your online community can facilitate lead generation strategies that can help you find new clients.

Better Overall Impressions For Your Brand

An online community will give your brand the best overall impression to consumers. When your customers visit your community, they will read positive feedback about your product. It also provides quality information to all members and allows the community to communicate with each other.

An online community will also increase brand loyalty. Your company and brand will benefit from the buzz your customers will generate online. Customer advocates will be your most active participants in the community and will show the most loyalty to your brand.

An online community is the best way to build relationships with customers and even find new clients. This power of relationships will enable greater loyalty to your brand and foster continuous engagement. These online communities also make it possible to sell a product or service without the usual hard-selling tactics that are usually implemented with traditional marketing techniques. This makes your brand more approachable when consumers are looking to buy.

Online communities are how to make your business profitable through relationships. They have become an integral part of creating a relationship strategy with consumers that facilitates your business development. If you cultivate your online community, it can lead to increased revenue as your online community grows.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help grow your business and create a relationship strategy with your online community. Contact us today for all your business development needs.

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Building an Online Community: Where To Start

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

Building an Online Community: Where To Start

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One of the best ways to promote your business and brand is through an online community. Despite what you may think, starting an online community is not difficult. The social media platforms of today have made it easy to create an online community for your brand. Read on to learn how you can establish your online community through social media platforms.

How To Build An Online Community

Stakeholder Relationship Management

The first step in building your online community is to identify your key stakeholders. Just like you have a hierarchy in your business, you will need to have a dedicated team that will conduct specific tasks. Pick a trusted team member and designate them as your community manager. This individual will handle all things related to your online community and see that everything runs smoothly. The specific duties of this manager will include branding your product and/or business and identifying ways that it can be improved upon. This person will also be the one that will work closely with the community and the customers.

Other members of your team can work with your community, too. For instance, your marketing manager can create a content calendar. This content can encourage community members to be first-time buyers, convince them to buy an alternative product, or even encourage them to upgrade and purchase a product in a higher tier.

Define Your Online Community Goals

After you have assigned your team members specific duties, you need to define the purpose and goals of your community. Ask yourself: “What experience do you want to give your customers?”, and go from there. Once you have determined your purpose, you can give your community access to expert information, tips, and hacks that can make their online experience the best it can possibly be.

Select the Best Platform For Your Community

The next step is to choose the appropriate platform to host your online community. The platform you choose depends on how many members you ultimately wish to have. For example, if your community will be smaller and more intimate, you can create a chat group on an application such as WhatsApp or a direct message group on Instagram. If you desire to grow a community of more than 100,000 people, social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn are better suited to enable you to create an online community through a group. 

Create A Member Profile

You want to grow your online community with your target audience. Therefore, you need to define your prospective community members through their interests and lifestyles. Once you have defined who your target audience is, you need to ask yourself a few questions. These include:

  • What can my community give them that they didn’t have before?
  • How did the community members feel before joining?
  • How did they feel after joining?

The answers to these questions are your member persona. This will determine what content you can use to convince them to become a member of the community.

Set Up Your Community

Now that you have found your prospective online community members it is time to launch the community. You can set up the community as one large forum or you can categorize them. You can categorize the community based on your products or member interests, and decide what products are best for them.

Don’t forget your community and your brand are synonymous, and your members should feel that way, as well. Fill your profile with your logo and brand colors. Besides the brand design, you will also want to be consistent with your brand’s tone in all your content including posts, comments, and videos that you have established in your community.

Promote Your Online Community

Now that your online community is set up, you need to promote it. Just like promoting your product, you want to promote your community so people will want to join. The best ways to promote your community are:

  • Partnering with Influencers
    When you team up with a social media influencer, it exposes your community to the influencer’s community. This is a sure way to find more target members that you are looking for.
  • Invite your Contacts
    When you invite your contacts into your community, you are opening up the gates for a whole new list of prospective members. Your business and social media contacts also know many people. If you inform your contact list about your community, they will be able to spread the word about your community and brand to their contacts.
  • Referrals
    You can also promote your online community through referrals. Your referrals can be many types of a reward including gifts, discounts, or prizes. This will also influence your present community members to spread the word about your product and your community.

Promotora Systems Inc. can show you how to build profitable relationships through an online community. Contact us to enroll in one of our coaching programs that can help you find new clients and grow your business by developing relationships with an online community.

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10 Ways Financial Advisors Can Capitalize on Social Media

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

10 Ways Financial Advisors Can Capitalize on Social Media

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Financial advisors can capitalize on social media in many ways to find new clients and empower their success. According to a recent survey, only 40% of financial advisors utilize social media to promote their business. This is in great contrast to the target audience, where an astonishing 73% of younger or millennial investors use search engines such as Google to seek out financial planners. Read on to learn how to make your business profitable through networking through social media.

10 Ways Financial Advisors Can Capitalize on Social Media

Have A Professional Photo Taken for Your Social Media Profiles

The most important element of your social media profile is your profile picture. That photo is the first impression potential clients will get of you, so make it count. Your photo should show your professional self including the way you would look and dress as if you were going to a meeting with a client.

Use Your Content To Generate Leads

Make yourself an added value connector to appeal to prospective clients. You can attract new clients by adding a helpful interactive tool or a blog with helpful information such as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on your website.

Be Sure Your Content Promotes Your Values

Always make sure that any content on your website reflects your business values. Don’t forget that you need to keep those values consistent throughout your website and all social media platforms.

Define Your Brand

When you are leading with your brand on social media, keep the content focused on subjects where you have extensive knowledge. This is especially true for your product or service. Promote yourself as an expert.

This can be difficult for newcomers to do on various social media channels. Your brand, in the simplest terms, is a reflection of who you are. When defining your brand, highlight your skills and your areas of expertise, and how they will help your clients reach their financial goals. Don’t forget to have consistency with your brand on all the social media platforms where you are looking to generate leads.

Utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on Social Media

To find quality connections on social media, you must optimize your networking through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is where you use appropriate keywords and phrases in your content so potential clients can find you in searches.

To do this, you must not only have your website optimized for SEO but your social media posts, as well. Many clients look for financial advisors through searches on Google. Although Google does scan many social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for search terms, it treats those platforms like typical web pages. To remedy this, you can add your SEO terms to your social media posts. It is better to do this because many platforms such as YouTube now have their own search engine for consumers. This is why it is important to put out consistent and engaging SEO content on all social media platforms, not just your company’s website.

Pay Attention To Your Industry Peers on Social Media

When you pay attention to what your peers are doing on social media, it can help you with your content posting. Watch what your competitors and peers are posting, and pay attention to what is working for them and what is not.

As a bonus, this can also help you be valuable to your network in many ways. You can also use social media for your research and potentially create strategic partnerships.

How to Develop your Business with Networking

After you have set your brand and business values in compliance with your company’s values, you can proceed to build your network. A great place to begin is LinkedIn. You can use LinkedIn to develop relationships with people who you already know. Invite these people through a more personal message to break the ice. Remind this person how you know each other in your message to connect and tell them how you can be a value-added connector for them by offering assistance through the rule of reciprocity. You can also find common ground with these quality connections by mentioning your mutual connections.

Use Your Strongest Social Media Platforms the Most

You should utilize a strong social media platform to promote your business. Many financial advisors choose to generate leads on LinkedIn. However, many are breaking into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to create strategic partnerships and prospects.

Engage on Social Media

Once you have established your brand on your social media platforms, be sure to engage on the platforms often. Join in on conversations with industry peers and potential customers. This is how to add value to your network where you are very generous with helpful information.

Remember the 80/20 Rule

A good rule to follow when prospecting on social media is the 80/20 rule. This is where your posted content should be 80% business and 20% personal that represents your brand.

Once you learn the ways you can use social media to capitalize your brand on social media, over time you will see how it increases your business development.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help small business entrepreneurs develop relationships to grow their business. Contact us today so we can take your financial advising business to the next level.

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How To Host A Client Appreciation Event As A Financial Advisor

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

How To Host A Client Appreciation Event As A Financial Advisor

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Building profitable relationships with your clients is the best networking strategy. A great way to thank your existing clients is to host an event to show your appreciation. In this article, we will tell you how to host this event, plus some popular event themes.

How Financial Advisors Can Host A Client Appreciation Event

Cater to Your Clients

When planning your client appreciation event, take some time to think about your invitees and their culture and demographic. For example, if your clients are basically the same age and have shared interests, you can tailor your appreciation event to them. If many clients are fans of your local sports teams, you can organize an event to attend the game with their family and friends. You may even find new clients from these additional attendees. This is how the power of relationships can work in your favor.

Great Client Appreciation Event Ideas For Financial Advisors

Besides attending a sporting event as a group, here are other popular ideas for your client appreciation event.

  • Cooking Classes
    Cooking classes have always been popular with client appreciation events. They are also fairly easy to arrange. All you need to do is pick a theme or cuisine and find a local chef or restaurant to host and supply the food. This type of interactive and intimate event is great for your best clients.
  • Golf Clinics
    Those clients who love to play golf will definitely appreciate this event. You can also open your event to current members of your golf club to find new clients.
  • Movie Nights
    You can host a great movie night for your clients. Many theaters have group packages available that include the film as well as food and beverages.
  • Private Tours
    Your clients will feel special if you arrange a private tour of a local venue. For instance, you could host your event at a museum so they can get the inside information that they normally would not get on their own trip there.
  • Community Improvement Events
    You can host an event that gets your clients involved in improving their communities. This can be anything from community beautification such as planting trees, or a beach clean-up. You can also hire a local restaurateur or food trucks to cater to everyone who is pitching in.

Make Your Event Inviting

You can build anticipation for your event in several ways. You can promote your event on social media and give your followers little teases on what to expect at your event. If you want to go the traditional route with mailed paper invitations, you can even vary that slightly. You can begin with a simple email notice to “save the date” before you send out your paper invitations. Then you can follow up with personal calls to remind them that your event is coming up.

Take Photos and Videos of the Event

Hire a professional photographer and/or videographer to cover your event. People get excited when they believe they will be on social media, and give your business some publicity in the meantime. This will also encourage them to attend future events, as well as spread the word of mouth about your business to their family and friends.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help you with our many business development services. Our fantastic coaching programs can show you how to build win-win relationships with your clients who can empower your success. Contact us today to start your planning for your next client appreciation event.

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Networking for Financial Advisors: 7 Ways To Connect with Your Audience

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

Networking for Financial Advisors: 7 Ways To Connect with Your Audience

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Networking is the key for any small business entrepreneur to build win-win relationships. For financial advisors, it can be even more challenging to create a relationship strategy because their financial means are at stake. If you are unsure how you can expedite this stakeholder relationship management, we can help. In this article, we will show you the ways you can optimize your networking for the best business development.

How to Develop Your Business Through Networking

Transparency is Key To Build Trust

Any small business entrepreneur must be completely honest with their clients at all times. Let your client know exactly what you have to offer them as a financial advisor, plus full disclosure regarding your specific services and any fees incurred. If any issues occur, tell your client why the issue occurred. For example, if you made a mistake, tell the client about it right away and offer a solution. Your new clients will appreciate your account management even more over time if they feel you are trustworthy.

Lead in with Your Core Values

Your new clients need to feel at ease with their financial advisor. Although your education, credentials, and qualifications will be taken into consideration for the decision, one thing that will influence them the most is shared core values. After all, you will be handling a large undertaking with their finances. Think about your core values and use them in creating your relationship strategy.   Make a list of your core values, and make sure every decision you make reflects those values.

Your clients will want to think of you as someone who they can trust with not only their financial well-being, but the financial well-being of their families. This trust is something that takes time to earn. This is how networking helps with business development. Once you have that strong financial advisor-client relationship established, that trust can last a lifetime.

Lend An Ear

Another great relationship strategy for your clients is to just listen to their concerns. Do not seem dismissive of their questions or concerns. Keep in mind they may be new to financial planning. Plus, they may have come to you because they want to open an account for something or someone special.

When you let your client tell you about their needs and wants, you may discover something about them that you previously were not aware of. This will also help you even more with planning their financial strategy. You can then tailor your financial planning strategy to fit their specific needs. For instance, you would handle a retirement account differently than you would a client who is establishing a college trust fund.

Use Layman’s Terms and Skip Industry Jargon

When reaching out to your audience, you must remember that many of them may not be knowledgeable about many of the industry terms in financial planning. Besides, you need to keep in mind that some financial industry jargon can be intimidating to laypeople.

You do not want this terminology to be confusing to the client. However, there is no need to dumb down the financial terms and concepts. You can just go through each term slowly and thoroughly. Take the time to define the terms. Make sure you offer the client the opportunity to ask questions. You can then determine what exactly the client needs for further clarification.

Be Consistent with Communication

This is how the power of relationships can help grow your business. It builds trust with the client. When you simply check in with your client regularly, it brings a sense of familiarity where the client will feel more comfortable. Plus, it shows them that you care about them and are concerned for them instead of just worrying about your own bottom line.

Never Leave Them Hanging

The last thing any client wants is to wait indefinitely for their financial advisor to respond to their questions or concerns. One way to build profitable relationships is to respond to your clients as soon as you possibly can.

Most of the time, you will be able to respond to your client quickly. It only takes a few seconds to send a quick text, such as “In a meeting, get back to you ASAP.” Therefore, this quick response will let them know that you are important to them.

In today’s world of business, it is paramount for a financial advisor to put themselves ahead of the competition. Once you establish trust with your new clients, it can evolve into a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.

Promotora Systems Inc. has many coaching programs that can show you how to build profitable relationships through networking to empower your success. Contact us today to get started on your journey.

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8 Tips To Be an Effective Networker at Community Events

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

8 Tips To Be an Effective Networker at Community Events

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Small business entrepreneurs are always looking for the best ways to get the most out of the time they attend networking events. After you have chosen which networking events you plan to attend, you can then create a strategic partnership strategy that can help you get the most out of each event. We created a list of helpful networking tips that will bring you quality connections and help you with your overall business development.

8 Tips For Effective Networking at Community Events

Introduce Yourself to the Event Organizer

One of the best ways to learn more about a company is to speak to the event organizer. Seek them out at the event and introduce yourself. They can then introduce you to other attendees to help you break the ice.

Set Reasonable Expectations

Networking events generally run for a couple of hours maximum. Therefore, your time to meet people is limited and you should not spread yourself too thin at events. When it comes to networking, quality connections are better than a mass quantity of random people.  It does not make much sense to work the room just to get as many contacts as possible. Proper relationship management happens when you focus on a few solid connections.

Join in Conversations and Be Engaged

While at the event, don’t hesitate to join in conversations whenever possible. Wait for a pause in the conversation to introduce yourself and add your input to the conversation. Most of the time, the other attendees will be delighted to bring a new person into the fold. However, when you approach new people and get a sense that they are having a serious discussion without a segway for you to enter the conversation, then you can politely excuse yourself and move on.

Hand Out Business Cards with Care

The purpose of these networking events is to find quality connections, so be discerning to whom you hand your business cards. Do not just hand them out to random people at events with no introduction or explanation.

Evaluate Your New Contacts after the Event

After your networking event, ask yourself two questions: Can this contact help me and can I help them? One mistake many people make when they try to evaluate relevant connections is they forget the rule of reciprocity. You should bring something to the table such as some industry advice or another connection that you could introduce them to. This is a great way to add value to connections. Eventually, you will get a wonderful reputation in your network as being a helpful person.

Build Relationships with Your Valuable Contacts

To develop your relationship strategy, you must learn everything you can about them. Discover all about their product/service, business, and even their personal interests. Then you educate them about you and your company. Keep in touch as often as you can, and get together whenever possible.

Nurture Your New Contacts

Just like a plant that needs water, your new contacts need nurturing, as well, for them to blossom into profitable relationships. This relationship maintenance is a key component to empower your success. Make sure that you touch base often with your new connections.

You can initially connect with them on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and send a short message to begin your dialogue. From this point, you can begin to cultivate this new relationship with the exchange of valuable information and industry advice.

As your contact list grows, you will also have to re-evaluate your list. People change positions all the time, so you will need to update all your information on a semi-regular basis.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help you develop relationships to grow your business. Contact us today to get started.

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How Business Coaches Can Establish Stronger Connections With Face-To-Face Networking

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How Business Coaches Can Establish Stronger Connections With Face-To-Face Networking

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Business coaches should attend in-person networking events. However, during the pastt few years, networking has mostly occurred online and on social platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. With that said, traditional face-to-face networking is still the best tool to establish true connections with your network. If you are still wondering how networking can help with business development, we can help you fine-tune your networking skills by building profitable relationships to empower your success.

How To Create Strategic Partnerships through In-Person Networking

Volunteer

Get out there and volunteer with a cause that you care about. Volunteering is a great way to meet new people and expand your network. You can find many quality connections this way, ranging from the people running the nonprofit to the other volunteers.

Identify Your Networking Goals

Do some thinking and decide your objective for face-to-face networking. For instance, are you looking to reach out to others in your industry for advice? Or are you looking for a collaborator, or to find new clients? Make sure you know your end goal before attending any specific event.

Be Authentic to Build Relationships

When attending networking events, it is best to just be yourself with no pretenses. To establish strong, long-term connections with other professionals in your industry, honesty is best.

Follow Up Right Away

A good rule for networking follow-ups is to do it within the first 48 hours after your event. You should act while the memory is still fresh on everyone’s minds. The following day, send a quick email to these new people after you have connected on social media. The email should just say how nice it was to meet them. Then, take the opportunity to send a question or start a conversation as an ice breaker.

Make Notes on Business Cards

When you attend these networking events, you collect business cards of the people you meet. On the card itself, jot down some information about this person, how you met, and what you may have spoken about. This will help you with the follow-up email in a better way to add value to connections.

Remember the Rule of Reciprocity

Giving something back is crucial in networking. Think about how to add value to your relationships by offering up something to the other person. For instance, if your new connection is starting up a new business and you know of someone else in their industry that could assist them or offer relevant advice, pass along their contact information.

Pass Out Business Cards At Every Networking Event

Attend every networking event with plenty of business cards. Make sure all your contact information is up-to-date.

Find New Clients and Quality Connections with A Concise Pitch

Put together a few sentences about yourself and your business into your pitch. Keep your pitch short to keep their interest. Don’t forget to tell them what you hope to achieve by connecting with them.

Diversify Your Network

Most of your networking will happen with people in your specific industry but there are many benefits to connecting to people in other fields. You cast a wider net into the business world, and you never know whether you may need another professional’s services to help your company.

Establish a Goal for Each Networking Event

It is a good idea to set small, attainable goals for your networking event. For example, you can set your goal at meeting five new people that work in your industry at your event.

Customize Your Conversations For Networking

One tactic for successful business development through networking is to listen to your conversation partner. Ask open-ended questions to get the information you need to keep the dialogue flowing. The key to building profitable relationships is to tailor each conversation you have during events.

Get To Events Early

It is best to get to an event early to maximize your time at the event. You should try to meet as many people as you can at these events. If you arrive late, you will have a harder time finding conversation partners as little groups have already formed at the event.

Host Your Own Networking Event

After you have had some networking experience, you can even host your own event. It does not have to be anything elaborate. It can just be a meeting with some people at a restaurant or a local pub. You can ask your invitees to bring a few people along, too. The idea is to get to know more and more people.

Promotora Systems Inc. can assist you in building your personalized relationship strategy to build stronger connections and optimize your networking. Contact us today so we can show you how to make your business profitable through networking.

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