Where, Oh Where Should I Go to Network?

For many business people the challenge is how to find time to attend all the available networking functions. Because our lives are packed these days, we all want to make the best use of our time. Some are beginning to understand that focusing on one specific market means less networking, but a better return on the investment of the time.

Maggie Sullivan, owner of The Traveling Jewelry Queen, sells imported fashion jewelry. Maggie looks at this as a retirement business, not wanting it to get in the way of her other interests. She says, \"I could be busy every minute, but I like to paint and also to play tennis just as well as buying and selling fun jewelry.\"

Sullivan realized that if she focused on the women likely to buy her jewelry and only networked in those settings, that she could make the best use of her time.

She says, \"I joined the Womens Entrepreneurial Network when I first moved to Toledo, Ohio and that has been great for my business. There are over three hundred fifty professional business members. Being a dual-gender organization there are some men members, or as we call them, the Men from WEN. Even so, they are women friendly and support me by purchasing gifts for the women in their lives.\"

Additionally, several years when Laura Bush came to Toledo to speak, Ms. Sullivan attended the event. At that event she met a woman who was a member of a womens barbershop quartet. Because of meeting that woman, Maggie was invited to exhibit her jewelry at a regional Sweet Adeline competition in Cleveland. There will be five to seven hundred women attending who like to buy jewelry.sparkly jewelry! Maggie thinks the weekend away will be a very good use of her time and she wont mind the time spent away from her other pursuits.

Youll notice that Ms. Sullivan did not purchase a booth at the craft show, the PTA bake sale or the health fair. Even though she could probably sell a bit of her baubles, the time invested would not be as good as the two above examples. She also does not attend networking events such as the golf outing or the usual Chamber business after hours for the same reason.

Maggie Sullivan has provided several lessons for us. She knows her audience, typically professional business women. They are the ones who will want to buy her products. Beyond that, she knows where to network to find that audience so that she doesn\'t waste any of her precious retirement time. For those of us who are not yet retired, maybe we should think like we are. Concentrating our efforts to one market will keep us marketing to the very people who will be most likely to buy.

Debby Peters is the owner and Director of Training of The Certified Networker Program of Ohio, Ltd., cnpofohio.com a 24 hour referral based training that is evolving a community of profitable referral partners. She is also posts to the blog cnpofohio.blogspot.com

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