5 Reasons Why You Should Say Yes to Weekly Networking Meetings

After reading the book THE REFERRAL ENGINE by John Jantsch (who also wrote DUCT TAPE MARKETING), I realized how important face-to-face networking can be even to companies such as mine that get much of their business from online connections.

And as I have written before, because I had just read this book I realized, when I first visited the Beverly Hills Leads Club chapter meeting, how important it is to have a dedicated network to help achieve Jantsch's referral recommendations.

Yes, joining this chapter meant committing to getting up early one morning every week. But I immediately saw the benefits.

Recently I've talked to business owners who want more business but aren't willing to commit to a weekly networking meeting.

Here then are five reasons why such a commitment is worth it:

1. People need time to get to know you and appreciate what you have to offer. Then they need to be continually reminded of what your business does.

2. People need time to trust that you will deliver what you promise to clients because giving a recommendation for you is putting their own reputation on the line.

3. You need to demonstrate your commitment to other people's businesses and to the group before you can expect people to go out of their way to recommend you.

4. Even seven days between meetings seems a long time given all our busy lives. Asking people to remember about you if they only see you once a month is expecting an awful lot.

5. Team support can be an incredibly powerful motivator. With everyone cheering on all the members in a coherent group the whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts.

Bonus reason: If you keep up your commitment over time you should definitely see results.

If you are fortunate enough to find a weekly networking group in which you feel comfortable and with which your business "fits," do not pass up this opportunity because you don't want to make a weekly commitment.

You ask your clients or customers to make repeat commitments to you. Ask of yourself the same for your business networking/marketing efforts.

P.S. If you are in West Los Angeles, check out the Beverly Hills Leads Club chapter.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing. Download the company's free report "5 Tips for Staying Top of Mind With Your Prospective Target Markets" at www.millermosaicllc.com/los-angeles-s...