For many businesses, networking is a great and fun way of making new connections and nurturing ongoing relationships.
There are many ways to network, but the most effective avenues are those which provide you continuity. I truly believe that going to 12 networking events in a year to separate networking opportunities is practically useless compared to the other extreme of going to the same environment 12 times. Networking is about relationships. It’s far easier to setup a follow up meeting in a comfortable and familiar environment than one that meets seldomly.
So, where could you go? There are many networking opportunities that have regular events. I will focus on different ones over time.
Today I would like to discuss the benefits of sponsorships. Sponsorships allow you to select an area that is of interest to you and this way you can mix business with pleasure. I am not talking about paying the money to a club and never being seen again. You might as well call this a donation. That’s OK if this is your intention, however, if your purpose of investing your organisation’s funds is to create more income, then, I can’t think of a more fun way of doing it.
I do it through a couple of football clubs. One of them is Melbourne Victory. It helps when you follow the club.
Melbourne Victory Football Club (Victory In Business) network is an amazing group of business people and networking can be so much fun. Casual conversations over silly golf shots take the edge off building new relationships. And yes, occasionally there is the sheer brilliance of an amazing shot which keeps you interested in playing golf. But, the best part of this is that it takes the back seat to being amongst a group of professional business people that see doing business is about fun and relationships. It’s been over 10 years since my first involvement with the club at the sponsorship level and it’s the best way to marry my sporting interests with business.
So, work out your interests, work out your budget and do business like you never have before.
