Networking Groups, my view point (October 2012 update)

I am an advocate of face to face Networking as those of you who follows me on Twitter (@Safety_Matters) will know. Over the last two years, I have reviewed critically all of the Networking Groups that I am a member of. The upshot of this review is that it is clear that some Groups are more active and more effective than others. I'm not merely griping about lead generation, but I'm criticising the ethos of some of these groups.

An obvious point coming out of the review is that attending Networking Groups costs both time and money. These are commodities that all businesses need to keep under review and to control. The money (in most cases) is not a great deal. The time, however, is a resource that is increasingly subject to many demands.  I now ask a lot of the Networking Groups that I associate with and challenge them to be more than a group of people meeting up.

Following my review, I have now left two Networking Groups altogether and I have reduced by attendance at another (by using a reliable substitute from within my business). I joined an active and vibrant Group that operates differently: they meet twice a month rather than on a weekly basis and they provide tea & coffee, but not breakfast. This does help to control both the cost and the time commitment for attendance. AS I said, this new group is the most active and vibrant group that I have ever been a member of. The reason for this, I think, is focus: on the Members and on Outcomes. This group has risen to the real challenge facing many Networking Groups: getting work through the group, not just for the members. The group has secured a significant contrcat to provide the services of all members to another (business) Group on a retained basis. I hope to talk more about the mechanisms of that when it is not so sensitive a subject.

This group has also set some ambitious targets for all members: pairing members up and requiring them to get five business opportunities for their partner before the end of this year. Not an easy task.

Social media marketing cannot, for me, fully replace face to face Networking, but it does give some positive results and is becoming increasingly important to my business. I'm encouraging others within my business to take up and embrace the world Twitter. As you can guess, this is being met with different views. Jamie embraces the concept, Richard struggles with it and Hagrid can't even touch computers (a Hogwarts thing!). My time investment in Twitter is not excessive: I use a lot of (otherwise) dead time, such as waiting for clients, waiting for the train, travelling by train, etc. Writing blog posts can be both rewarding and therapeutic. Rewarding in that it helps to crystallise some thoughts and therapeutic in that it allows me to channel some frustrations into (hopefully meaningful) words. I can then spread my thoughts and my musings by the use of (you guessed it!): Twitter.

I'm making a conscious effort to make more use of LinkedIn and would be pleased to hear from other as to how effective it is (or can be).

Like many things (including the provision of health and safety services), the true costs of Networking Groups should be monitored and scrutinised regularly. If it is not working for your business, look for other things that are.

Please visit my Health and Safety Website

Please follow me on Twitter: @Safety_Matters