This is slightly off topic if you’re used to seeing my usual posts about my photography but if you run your own business and you’re interested in business networking, then read on.

I’m not a networking expert but I’ve done a fair bit  of face-to-face networking since I first started Linda Scannell Photography and it’s introduced me to lots of new friends and really helped my business.   So I quite often get asked by other business people which networking groups I’d recommend. It’s not as straightforward as “this group works, this one doesn’t” because it all depends on the type of business you run and who else is a member of that particular group, so a group that works well for me might not be good for you and vice versa.  So how do you choose?

Some groups allow you to turn up whenever you like with no commitment to join so you just need to visit a few times to see if it’s worth carrying on.  But there are other groups that require you to commit to an annual membership and you need to assess fairly quickly whether they’re worth joining.  After a lot of trial and error, here are the tips that work for me – I’d be interested to know whether they work for you too so feel free to leave a comment:

• Visit several times  to get a feel for whether you’d enjoy being a member.  This is particularly important if you attend a specific event aimed at attracting visitors as how the group runs on visitors’ days is often different to how it runs normally. Most groups will allow you to visit at least twice before you have to commit to joining.
• Will you be able to attend the group regularly?  Some groups insist on you going to most meetings or sending a sub if you can’t, but even if that’s not in the group rules, attending regularly is a good idea as people need to get to know you before they will trust you enough to recommend you, so make sure you can commit the time and money to attend as many meetings as possible.
• Do they get lots of visitors?  Seeing the same faces every week is great for getting to know one another but visitors can be a good source of business as well as being useful contacts to help you with running your business. If visitors are turning up as a result of the group’s website or central organisation that’s great – if they’re  purely relying on existing members to find visitors it can be hard to keep finding new faces.
• Do any of the members clash with your business?  Some groups only allow one member per profession but even then make sure you find out a bit more about the existing members before joining.  E.g. I found in one group that one member was married to a wedding and portrait photographer so I was unlikely to get referrals from him, and the printer also had their own in house photographer so there was no chance of commercial jobs from that source.  If it’s a group that allows more than one member from the same profession then that’s not necessarily a bad thing as you may have different specialisms and you may end up referring business to one another.
• Do any of the members’ businesses complement your business?  If they have the same sort of customers that you’re looking for then they’re more likely to be able to refer people on to you. So a group that contains wedding planners and website designers is likely to be a good source of business for me, for instance.
• Do they meet at a time that’s convenient for other business people you’d like to network with?  E.g. My husband is usually happy to take our kids to school on the days that I have a breakfast meeting but if you need to network with other business mums not everyone’s as lucky as me, so you’re more likely to find them at groups that meet in a morning or lunchtime or perhaps in an evening.
• How long have the other members been attending the group? If there are members who’ve renewed at least once, then that’s usually a sign that the group is working for them.  It doesn’t guarantee that it will work for you as well, but at least it’s working for someone.
• If a previous member of your profession has left the group, find out why.  There may be a very good reason, like they’ve moved to a new area, they’ve changed job, or they just weren’t committed to attending the group, but it’s always worth finding out the reason if you can.
• How much business is being passed and is it quality business? Some groups don’t do a referral section of the meeting so you’ll just have to judge this by the informal conversations that go on and by chatting to individual members about their experiences.  (Don’t be put off by the lack of a referral section as the group that generates the most business for me doesn’t formally do referrals at all.)  Other groups do have a formal part of the meeting where members are asked to pass on referrals and some even monitor the number of referrals that are passed by each member.  This is meant to encourage members to make the effort to find business for you but it just seems to encourage some members to pass on leads  just to earn points.  If you walk out of your first ever meeting with lots of referrals from people who’ve never met you before, follow them up before deciding to join ;-)  (If you’re wondering about the difference between a referral and a lead, a lead is the just the name and contact details of someone who may want to do business with you – they  won’t be expecting your call, but with a referral, they should be waiting for you to contact them as the person passing on your details should already have recommended you to them.)
• Would you be happy to recommend most of the members to your best friend?  You can’t expect people to pass business on to you if you don’t reciprocate sometimes so you need to be confident that there are people in the group whose goods and services you’d be happy to use or recommend to your own clients and friends.  That can be difficult to assess on the basis of a couple of visits but if they’re getting referrals from other members that’s a good sign, plus you can check them out on LinkedIn, Google, etc to see if they get good reviews and if their website looks professional, etc.
• Are there any other benefits of being a member?  E.g. Is there a good website with an opportunity to advertise your business?  Do you get member training, discounts with local businesses, etc?

So which groups work for me? I’m currently on my second year’s membership with these two groups:

• BoB Warwick – a fun way to start a Friday morning.  We meet fortnightly for breakfast and I’ve been a member there since November 2010.  There are other groups across the country.
• Solihull Women’s Premier Business Club – a monthly lunch meeting in the middle of Solihull, a great website and a lovely bunch of people to socialise with.

And I also regularly pop in and out of a few groups that don’t demand annual membership:

• SWiB (Supporting Women in Business) – monthly meetings around Warwickshire and now expanding to the rest of the country.  Friendly with great speakers so there’s always something new to learn and someone interesting to meet.
• Prestige Networking in Barnt Green – fortnightly breakfast meetings run by the lovely Julie Feeney.
• Leamington Business Network – twice monthly breakfast meetings at Seasons Restaurant in Leamington.  Lots of people there.

If you’re interested in trying out any of those, let me know.