Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 22, 2011, 10:43 am
Recently I wrote a guest blog for Warren Cass, 'Networking is not a numbers game'. In a reply on Twitter, Roberta Ward summed it up quite neatly, "No, its a people game!". In the article I wrote about how some people approach networking as a numbers game. Meeting as many different people as possible...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Aug 30, 2011, 11:14 am
I met someone recently at one of my regular networking groups. When he explained what he did I advised him that the group may not be great for him and his business. He sold cosmetics direct to consumers and was there to generate leads for his business. The group was made up of professionals and prov...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 15, 2011, 1:21 pm
I wrote this after a dinner party when one of the other guests asked me what I do. I used the phrase 'Business Networking Group' in my reply and she said, "What's a Business Networking Group?" I was a little thrown at first, but realised I shouldn't be. I think we often assume that everyone knows mo...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 5, 2011, 3:28 pm
I wrote this on a train heading into London earlier this year and it was first published at the new home of the business networking blog. I was on my way to a 'Digital Mindset' workshop from Ecademy founders Penny & Thomas Power. The idea that Ecademy website was about 'Learning, networking and busi...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jan 18, 2011, 3:00 am
The Business Networking Blog has a new home at https://www.nrg-networks.com/blogs.php?cat=1. Please check the new location for new posts with business networking tips, hints, advice and stories. The full archive of posts is also available at the new site. For new posts go the new home of the busine...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jan 4, 2011, 5:12 am
Over the last week or so my inbox has been full of well meaning advice about goal setting and new year resolutions. The same topics have seemed to dominate on blogs and social media. One thing has been missing from a lot of what I have read - the importance of knowing where you are starting from. Yo...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Dec 23, 2010, 10:35 am
Enjoy the Christmas story told through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare, Amazon... Have a great Christmas!Dave Clarke
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Dec 15, 2010, 2:53 am
I met someone last week at one of my regular networking groups. When he explained what he did I advised him that the group may not be great for him and his business. He sold cosmetics and the group was made up of professionals and providers of business services. He said, rightly, that everyone ther...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Dec 9, 2010, 9:49 am
At a dinner party a couple of weeks ago one of the other guests asked me what I do. I used the phrase 'Business Networking Group' in my reply and she said, "What's a Business Networking Group?" I was a little thrown at first, but realised I shouldn't be. I think we often assume that everyone knows ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Nov 30, 2010, 4:42 am
I write this from a train heading into London. I am on my way to a 'Digital Mindset' workshop from Ecademy founders Penny & Thomas Power. The purpose of the event is billed as 'to look at why a "Digital Mindset" and Digital Coaching will grow your business.' The tag line for the Ecademy website is n...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Nov 23, 2010, 10:40 am
I was at an event recently where someone said that the owners of small businesses often operate a really unstructured approach to marketing. This is often an irregular series of one off initiatives in relation to short term needs. The problem with this approach is that each new activity takes a lot ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Nov 16, 2010, 8:19 am
In The quality of your network really matters I wrote about recent research into influencing behaviour through social networks. This research highlighted the importance of building close, strong ties to people in your network. In his keynote at the F5 Conference earlier this year Malcolm Gladwell is...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Nov 9, 2010, 4:49 am
In a recent post I suggested it was a good idea to work out who else is needed when you do business. This simple exercise means you can work out which other businesses give you the most referral opportunities. Both for giving and receiving. Someone asked me a couple of days ago if I could give an ex...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Nov 2, 2010, 6:38 am
Last week I was with a group of Professionals and Small Business Owners in Birmingham learning more about Referral Marketing at the Referral Institute's UK & Ireland Conference. The theme of the day was about how you can dramatically increase your referred revenue. One topic covered by Trey McAliste...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 25, 2010, 9:05 am
Nurturing your network can be similar to tending your garden. In a garden different trees, plants and shrubs require differing amounts of attention to enable them to grow and thrive. It's the same with your network. Some relationships need very little maintenance, some require much more at the start...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 19, 2010, 4:35 am
Many business people are comfortable with Linkedin. The online tools seem based around the way networking has always worked offline. Used well the Linkedin tools add value to your offline networking. In a peer to peer boardroom session recently we were discussing how someone could get in front of go...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 15, 2010, 9:12 am
I was running the NRG Bath lunch yesterday. Small group but really great people. In the morning I ran a session for the group members where we were helping each other work out who their best introducers were. They knew their target market but found it difficult, like most people, to work out who ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 15, 2010, 5:31 am
I get asked regularly by business people and professionals about using Linkedin. Here is a short video from the clever folks at Commoncraft that explains it all in very simple language. Good Networking!Dave Clarke
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 12, 2010, 4:08 am
Most weeks I meet someone who works on their own and who says something like, "I work with blue chips so need to be 'networking' with CEOs, CFOs, CTOs etc of Corporates, Blue Chips etc". Stop for a moment and think about the responsibilities these CXO people have and their priorities. Where do you ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Oct 6, 2010, 4:22 am
Why does Word of Mouth Marketing work so well? That was the recent headline of an article by my colleague in NRG Business Networks, Martin Davies. Stuart Harris Replied on Twitter, "WoM marketing is great because it's personal but the person isn't paid ("hire a liar") - they recommend or not from th...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 28, 2010, 11:00 am
One of the issues I hear most often from Directors and Professionals in small and medium sized businesses is how to generate business in new markets. I facilitated a peer to peer 'Boardroom' session recently where half of the issues raised were around this topic: "How do I reach the companies I wan...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 21, 2010, 4:44 am
Over the last couple of years many small business owners and professionals have discovered for the first time that business is about downs as well as ups. Fortunately for the economy most of these people have a pretty positive outlook and will be helping lead us out of recession. There are those tha...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 14, 2010, 4:08 am
In a recent NRG business networking event Chris Bose delivered an excellent talk on how to get more prospects for your business from your website. You can read the full text on his website. The elements of his process for getting more prospects are very useful in the context of generating more refer...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 7, 2010, 4:08 am
The rise in popularity of social networking websites has seen many people adopt a different approach to building their network. They have followed the idea encouraged by a number of 'experts' that large numbers of followers or connections are all important. Internet Psychologist, Graham Jones, has j...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Sep 2, 2010, 9:37 am
Word of Mouth Marketing is fashionable and perceived to work exceptionally well in today’s world of information overload. But exactly why is it so powerful? Here is the reason. Word of Mouth is all about what someone who is not perceived to have an axe to grind says about someone else’s produc...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Aug 24, 2010, 9:49 am
I have written before about online & offline networking needing similar approaches. Recent HP Labs social media research concludes that successful influence on twitter does not depend on a large number of followers. That for information to propagate in a network, individuals need to forward it to th...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Aug 11, 2010, 4:08 am
I received a message via Twitter about my recent article, The BIG Mistake That Means Networking Doesn’t Work. The person said she agreed with the article, but thought people may take the advice 'don't dive in' as an excuse for doing nothing. My main point was that people often start networking wit...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Aug 2, 2010, 6:17 am
I was talking to an NRG member, Phil Cheesman, the other day. Phil was observing that he saw many business people leading fairly chaotic business lives. They never seem to have time to sit back and think strategically about where the're going and how the're going to get there, let alone do anythin...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 29, 2010, 4:08 am
This post was inspired when I was asked recently for a quote for a new book from Andy Lopata on when to leave a networking group. There are times when you move on in business and different networking groups become more appropriate. If you are networking as part of an overall plan then you will be a...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 22, 2010, 4:08 am
After a really good networking meeting you will often see people still engrossed in conversations. Many of them will have their diaries to hand arranging meetings. It is this follow up activity in between networking meetings that really make the difference. If you are always rushing off right on tim...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 13, 2010, 4:08 am
Andy Lopata asked me recently to write an article on the mistakes that people make in business networking. This article is now published in Andy's newsletter at Fresh Business Thinking. As I researched the topic with my network and reflected on my experiences I realised there was one BIG mistake. B...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jul 6, 2010, 6:00 am
I was interrupted last week at a networking group meeting by someone who wanted to commend something to the group. Positive interruptions that enhance your message are always very welcome! He said it had been a really useful exercise to go through all the business cards he had collected over a coupl...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jun 22, 2010, 8:22 am
In conversation with a couple of people last week I asked if they thought there was a difference between networking and building your network. They answered that when they started formal networking they were recently out of corporate life and they thought networking was all about finding people to d...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jun 16, 2010, 4:08 am
I spent a day at the start of this week with some colleagues and associates in a regular monthly meeting for the leaders of our NRG Business Groups. The focus of the day is all about how we can help each other build our respective businesses through the collective power of our shared networks. The m...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jun 8, 2010, 6:13 am
"Avoid the competition" was a comment from Courtney Sperlazza in response to my post entitled What is the right approach in business networking? She went on to explain: "I don't mean to avoid your competitors. What I mean is, avoid the concept of competition. You can work collaboratively with anyone...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Jun 1, 2010, 8:16 am
Someone raised the possibility that they may be doing too much networking on the 4networking business forum last week. So can you spend too much time networking? There are many people who spend too much time attending networking groups & events because they are not really networking. They are really...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 25, 2010, 10:51 am
There are some people you meet who seem to 'get' networking instinctively. People seem to gravitate to them with a regular stream of opportunities for them and their business. They don't engage in the face to face equivalent of cold calling They spend most of their time with a regular close group of...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 20, 2010, 4:08 am
It can be tempting to only 'network' with others who do completely different things to you. People who provide different services or products and those from different professions. In fact some groups only allow for one member from each. In reality it is often those that are more complementa...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 18, 2010, 4:08 am
In 'The circles (no more strangers)' Seth Godin writes "It's so tempting to seek out more strangers." He makes the point that trying to reach strangers is expensive and you may very well upset your true fans. He uses an excellent graphic (shown to the right here) to illustrate his point ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 13, 2010, 4:21 am
If you know your target market (or markets) precisely you can work out where you need to network. Some people think that this means finding people in the target market to 'network' with. This is not networking, but direct selling. In fact it is often the face to face equivalent of cold calli...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 11, 2010, 4:08 am
I sometimes meet people who run around frantically to as many events as possible. They meet as many different people as they can and deliver their 'elevator pitch' as often as possible. In my book that is not networking. It is the face to face equivalent of cold calling. It is difficult and ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 7, 2010, 4:08 am
There may be trouble ahead... Internet Psychologist Graham Jones wrote on his Ecademy Blog yesterday about the tough economic times ahead whoever wins the UK General Election. Everyone knows there will be some serious belt tightening whoever wins, but as he says "It's not all doom and gloom. Yo...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 6, 2010, 4:08 am
In a discussion on following up in the NRG-networks Linkedin Group yesterday Helen Dowling of 'Exceptional Thinking' shared that she thought that following up is "the most important marketing technique you can do". She certainly has a point about the importance of following up. My experien...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - May 4, 2010, 12:40 pm
The first habit of highly effective people is being proactive* according to the best selling book by by Stephen R. Covey. I was reminded of this when reviewing the video interview in my recent post, 'Just how important is a network in business?'.The last question I was asked in that intervie...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 30, 2010, 4:08 am
Dave Harries of GuruView.TV began this interview by asking how important a network is for small and medium sized businesses? He also asked what networks are, if there are different levels of networking and whether offline networking is now more or less important. Finally he asked what key piece of...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 29, 2010, 4:08 am
On Tuesday this week I spoke at a Marketing Masterclass in Newbury about 'How Business Networking Really Works'. Two of the other speakers, Nigel Morgan and Karen Chapple presented about the growing importance of Social Media. Karen shared the news that Google now has a Social Tab on its def...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 28, 2010, 9:34 am
I was asked a question via Twitter yesterday about my advice for someone attending her first networking event. I suggested that she smile and wrote: "Enjoy the meeting, introduce who you are, what you do, who for & how you look forward to getting to know the others." The main thing is to be genuin...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 26, 2010, 6:18 am
As I write this we have 10 days to go until the UK General Election. Until April 15th the Public Opinion Polls were predicting the following share of votes: Conservative 36% Labour 31% Liberal Democrat 20% Other 13% The conservatives were in the lead and two thirds of the votes were predicted to be ...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 23, 2010, 7:54 am
In a conversation with the partner in a professional firm last week he said "I know networking is about building relationships and not selling directly, but I never meet the right people". I asked him who the right people were and he tried to explain. He found it difficult and rambled on a bit. I s...
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Dave Clarke posted an article on Business Networking Blog - Apr 20, 2010, 4:08 am
The key to building a successful relationship with someone in business networking is follow up. One2One interactions are an essential part of this follow up. It is the next step after you have invested time in getting to know someone at your regular networking group meetings. In this podcast I expla...
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