Networking is at the core of a successful business. Creating strong relationships between a business and partners, investors, and customers is what helps propel a company toward success.
But entrepreneurs, especially new ones, can have a hard time knowing how to best approach building awareness of their brand, or encourage people to connect and engage with their company. After all, there are a lot of methods that can work well, particularly if done in tandem, but there is only so much time or energy available in any given day.
To find out more, we asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council to share some useful approaches for establishing rapport with investors, partners, or customers, as well as how these strategies can help build brand awareness. Here is what they said:
1. Always Put Your Customer First
Honestly, in addition to having a solid product and having an audience—whether that be through search, social, traditional advertising—customer experience is everything. No matter how successful your company is, you're not too successful to put your customer first. I'm not just talking about a phenomenal customer experience team that is dedicated to making sure every user has a flawless (or near-flawless) experience either. I'm also talking about optimizing your website so it is as easy and user-friendly as possible, handling mishaps (even if it's not our fault), etc. Your customer is everything, so treat them as such. - Chelsea Rivera, Honest Paws
2. Be Concise And To The Point
Be concise and to the point with other entrepreneurs. If you don't know something, admit it; don't just make things up to sound smart. Ask for help instead of trying to sound like you know everything in the world. We all love to help people, and nobody wants to spend time around a "know-it-all" especially a "know-it-all" that is making it up. Fake it until you make it only works in the movies. - Eric Rice, Quanta
3. Attend Relevant Events And Connect People
My best networking advice is to attend as many relevant shows, make in-person visits to prospects and clients and, most of all, be a connector. Connect folks that could work great together from a personal and product standpoint even if it doesn't directly affect your top line. These connections come back around tenfold in the future—they have for me, time and time again. - Jeff Keenan, LeadsRX
4. Spend Quality Time With Them
Go deep. I find that spending quality time with people multiple times, be they fellow entrepreneurs, potential investors or clients, builds stronger relationships and networks than spraying business cards at an event. - Vinay Patankar, Process Street
5. Be Passionate
Be passionate and confident in your product. You must know without a doubt that your service or product will be extremely beneficial to your audience, and describe how it will be with passion. - Brandon Ginsberg, ApparelMagic
Read more in The Importance Of Passion As A Business Leader
6. Don't Overthink It And Don’t Hold Back
People these days are overthinking themselves. Everybody is so caught up with their messaging, what others think of them, the what-ifs of a letdown and they get too deep into the perfectionist pondering of “how-to” that they never pull the “try” trigger. Networking and building brand awareness are easy. Just start. Reach out! Find the 100 people you'd most like to meet and just send them a DM on Instagram. Didn't hear back? Follow up! Models, CEOs, singers, photographers—they are people too. So just start reaching out and connecting with them like a human, not some overpolished, over prepped PR pitch of you. - Jonathan Ronzio, Trainual
7. Help Others, Without Expectations
Be yourself, go deep into conversation with people and help out anyone whenever you can. Helping out others for no reason goes a long way and can eventually lead to a prosperous relationship. One of the other keys to winning people over is being responsive. If you always respond very fast and people feel that you are super engaged, they tend to overlook your other shortcomings (if you have any). - Daniel Eichholz, Broughton Partners
8. Know The Fundamentals
Build a business case that clearly defines what you are going to do, why you want to do it, and what are the reasons someone will want it. Then do a competitive cost analysis and show how your product or service can survive financially. After the fundamentals are completed, then focus your brand message, logo and communication around what you discovered in the business case development phase. - Jack Johnson, Volta Power systems
9. Bring Tangible Value To Your Interactions
People partner and invest in you, not necessarily your ideas. If they don't believe that you can execute on your vision, truly valuable individuals won't waste their time. Time is one of the most valuable assets to an entrepreneur since it is one of the only components of a business that cannot be stored or replaced. Bringing tangible value to interpersonal interactions shows that you understand the importance of both your time, as well as the time of your peers, investors, and partners. Try to give progressive advice and comments to push the conversation forward rather than moving an idea laterally or backward. - Ryan Warren, BrightGuard
