5 Tips to Meet the Right People for Your Business

Meeting the right people in your industry is a key to any business' success, especially if your business is focused on expanding. The right relationship can open new networks and channels that may be great opportunities for your business. But how do you meet the right people? Below are 5 tips to help you to get started meeting the right people for your business.

How to find the right people:
1. Networking Events - Networking events are still a great way to meet people in your region and in your industry. If you are going to a trade show, try to review the people who will be attending the trade show before you go. If you know who will be in attendance, you have a better chance of meeting the people you want to meet and of making the most of the trip. Additionally, remember to network intelligently. Distribute your business cards, and if you think the person may be able to help your business, make a genuine connection with that person.

2. Personal Recommendations - If you know that someone in your network knows someone that you are interested in talking with, ask your contact to introduce you, and possibly help to set up a meeting. Again, focus on making a genuine connection with each party you talk with.

3. Industry Associations - Look into associations within your industry to connect with people. The people you are looking for may work with or are very involved with the association, or they may simply belong to the association. If you are not already a part of an industry association, you may want to join one. Not only will they help you to network, but they will also keep you up to date on your industry, including what your competitors are doing.

4. Social Networking - You have probably heard much about social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn. One of the surprising things is that sites like these can help you to build a virtual network of people in your industry. Join LinkedIn and start connecting to people you already know. You may connect with other people through these connections. Join Twitter and start Tweeting about things that you think are interesting to the people you want to connect with. Start a blog and do the same thing. Try to sort through the people who are just looking to boost their follower count, and instead are actually looking to connect. Additionally, if you are going to pursue a social networking strategy, you will want to make sure that your website is easy to use - that is where contacts and consumers will go after they make the initial contact with you to learn more about you and your company.

5. Use Your Website - What results pop up when you type the name of your most popular product into a search engine like Google or Yahoo? If it is not your website, but a competitor's website, or simply a review of your product, you might want to put some attention to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This will help to bring your website to the top of the searches. If necessary, redesign your website to make it easier for contacts and customers to understand your company and its products. If people can find your website, and can learn about your company on the website, you may not have to search for the "right people." The right people may come to you.

One important thing to remember: once you have the relationship, keep building the relationship by staying in contact. Additionally, if you do decide to develop a social networking strategy, remember that it will take a firm commitment to continue to update the Twitter stream and blogs. This content generation does not require much of your time, but it will need to be present in your mind.

Do You Know What You Don't Know?

So you're a regional business planning to stay regional. Should you care about doing business nationally, or even internationally? Companies must know how to break out of their regional box. Competitors, domestically and internationally are planning to enter your market. You must have a game plan to deal with these competitors.

-Did you know that 90%+ US GDP is produced by companies with fewer than 25 employees?

-In 2007, US exported $1,6 trillion worth of goods and services, a 13,1% increase and imported $ 2,3 trillion goods and services, a 6,8% increase

-10 industries most likely to be extinct in 10 years : record store, camera film manufacturing, crop dusters, phone books, newspapers, pay phones, used book stores, piggy banks, telemarketing, coin operated arcades

-More than 100 million Americans belong to groups that have an Internet presence


Do you realize that the US is no longer the leader in technology advances? The rest of the world adopts new technologies at a rate that is between 3 to 10 times greater than the US. The internet and technology can help sustain your business into the 21st Century. As technology evolves you must stay ahead of it.

-70% of the global PC sales are outside of the US

-86% of internet users are outside of the US

-The US ranks 7th in the innovation category

-The amount of new technical information is doubling in two years


The Path To Success: Many entrepreneurs ignore the above facts because they have no desire to go global. The good news is, it's not about “going global”... just focus on becoming "competitive” in this global, Internet marketplace.

Now the good news. As a business owner you can empower yourself to control your business's destiny. Every business needs three things to compete in this new borderless Internet economy:

- Information: Market data and competitive information that will provide a path to success.
- People: Connections to properly vetted individuals and strategic resources to help you compete.
- Resources: The best possible Internet Communications Technologies …the tools to compete!

By using people and resources in the correct manner to achieve maximum efficiency you can increase sales and decrease costs. Your Path to Success starts with you analyzing your business and taking the corrective actions to improve your network.