Does Business Networking Work?

Business networking -- does it really help to win new business? Or is it just a time intensive way of handing out business cards with the hope that someone will call you?

Let me give you an example of a networking event that produced two new web projects for a client of mine and may result in additional ones in the months ahead.

In December of '07, I attended an early morning seminar on doing business in the Hispanic market at a local television studio in Van Nuys. KFWB-AM and Washington Mutual were sponsoring the seminar.

I grabbed my coffee, a bagel and walked through the crowd chatting and shaking hands.

I caught the attention of one person who gave me his card, I briefly explained what my client did in web development. He mentioned he was on the board of directors of a non-profit and they needed their web site revised.

We went on. I stayed in touch with him through January and in February I was in touch with a woman who was heading up the project. I connected her with my client with whom I worked on putting together a proposal.

By March, they had the project. The non-profit was for a corporate organization that helps people advance in their careers.

That proposal led to a second proposal with an engineering firm that needed their web site overhauled. That project was awarded in July.

Both projects totalled about $ 20,000. Not bad for an initial 1-minute conversation.

A third project may come in the next month or two.

Follow-up was required in order to make both projects happen.

Marketing author Dan Kennedy says "everyone can show up once." I heard him speak a few months back in Anaheim. He said the secret to doing business in a slow economy is to consistently follow-up.

Do you do a good job of showing up at business networking events? If so, great.

But how is your follow-up? Do you have a consistent way to follow-up new leads not just one or two times . . . but five, six and seven times? Or more?

If not, find ways to make follow-up happen.

I'll be exploring this in the weeks ahead and will post on effective ways to follow-up with new business leads to make business networking more effective.