Small business owners use networking as a means to form relationships with others, in targeted, complimentary or related fields, that help to expand their business’ ability to find new customers, partner and grow. The key element to effective networking is to make yourself known. The premise being that the more people you meet, the more people there will be to get to know and remember both you and your business.

A few key reasons outline why networking is important for small business:

1. Leads. Networking is a great way to acquire new business leads.  Using the contacts you make when you meet people will open doors for business opportunities. 
2. Identify Best Practices. Networking is a great way to identify best business practices or industry benchmarks. Learning from what others do is a valuable strategy for all businesses.
3. New Business Trends. Networking can help you stay on the cutting edge of technology and new business trends.  These types of relationships and “inside” information can give you an advantage over your competitors by implementing new and fresh ways of doing things.
4. Increased Confidence. By networking regularly, and pushing yourself to talk to people you don’t know, you will gain increased confidence it not only yourself, but your business. This is really important as a business owner, because your business growth is very dependant on talking to people and making connections.
5. Connections. “It’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know”. This adage is absolutely true when it comes to building a successful business. To grow your small business you will need to have a strong source of relevant connections in your network that you can call on when you need them. It’s not just about who you are networking with directly either – that person will already have a network you can tap into as well. So ask the right questions to find out if the person you are networking with knows who you want to know!

Now we all know that networking is often this mythical and great unknown in the business world. Something we must all do (apparently), but why must we do it. It’s not impossible to cover the above in a range of other ways. Well, let’s put some numbers behind this:

1. Almost 70% of attendees at networking events are not an existing customer of yours and/or are receptive to hearing from other businesses and their solutions, no matter the product or service. 
2. The closing rate of business obtained through networking increases by some 40% instantly. 
3. And the value of a referred business or business gained via networking (where you’ve kickstarted a relationship) is 16% greater in its lifetime than business gained otherwise. 

We now know. Networking is valuable. Incredibly valuable. What does this have to do with business cards? Networking. Business cards. Hello?!?

Your business card is a part of your introduction, your handshake, that much anticipated first impression. Shouldn’t your business card be as impressive (or moreso) than yourself and be a part of why you’re remembered and not why you’ve been forgotten, stuck at the bottom of a pile of others ready for the bin. And when you are networking, your business card should be useful well beyond sharing contacts – providing links to recent projects, websites, social media. And yet, we trust this small piece of paper to pick up the chat long after your glass is empty and everyone has left for home or the office. 

This is why we see and understand our MODC being an essential element to your networking endeavours, not only making the task easier by being a single card, but by also adding the array of tools and info you want at your fingertips when connecting with others. 

Because if networking is the valuable part of your business, why not treat it as such?

📸 Branded MODC. for the coffee commune.