Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Are you Hunting or Farming for clients while Networking?
 Reading other people's blogs can give you some great insights. This post comes from a post at alternativehealthpractice.com They were talking about finding clients for practices through networking and quoted Ivan Misener, the founder and CEO of BNI, in a piece on Entrepreneur.com. He said:
The writer went on to suggest that the way to form deep relationships from your networking is to consider that you are farming for clients rather than hunting. It’s a great metaphor for the development of your professional referral base. Slowly gathering background and connections before you approach someone - is about choosing to farm relationships. Nurture them gradually. Plant them, water them, and watch them grow, but don’t harvest them until they’re ready. And whatever you do, don’t hunt them. That’s what everyone else is doing because they haven’t yet realized that you can only eat prey once, but you can harvest a garden forever. Makes you kind of think about your next networking meeting. How many people are hunters and how many farmers?If you have been guilty of hunting, take a breath and learn from the farmers. You will reap greater long term rewards. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: business to business networking |
Thats a very good way of looking at attracting clients. I've found that word of mouth is by far the best way to attract clients, especially I have found since moving to my small town. Business is going really well. It was certainly a great decision to open a shopfront here.
Really glad to hear business is going well Deanne. I really like how you looked at how your market preferred to work and adapted your approach to meet the market. You are a great example of client farming!
Cheers
Ingrid