Shropshire Woman

I was recently invited to attend a “Power Tea.” Now, we’ve all heard of the power lunch or the breakfast meeting - but this was a new one for me. It was an all-female networking event accompanied by exquisite tea time treats, organised by a new group Networking with Style. Gathered together was a bevy of women representing a plethora of different businesses in Shropshire. And a powerful – and extremely useful - bunch they proved to be. In conjunction with a power networking
event at the WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) conference, this has opened up my eyes to the incredible value and power of networking.

“Networking is now regarded as the ‘new black’, and a lot of businesses are using this as part of their marketing strategy,” says Carole Clayton of the Rural Meeting Place
which meets near Ludlow.

There are a variety of groups in Shropshire, and meetings are held over different times of the day; breakfast, lunch, early evening, and have different formats; members only, members plus guests, women only or open to all. It all comes down to a matter of personal choice.

"All-women networking is one of the best ways to start - the toe in the water approach, so as long as you embrace all it can give"

So what exactly is networking?

Networking meetings enable people to meet others and to build relationships, in anticipation of doing business either directly, or through introductions, to a growing ‘network’ of business people. “Building relationships is an important part of networking. Business and new opportunities generally come through relationships,” says Julie Edwards, WiRE network manager. “You have to meet people, get to know them and build trust before they are ready to buy from you. Over time, building relationships will raise the chances of you doing business.”
“Networking is marketing – your personal endorsement of your business, meeting others who can become ambassadors for your business and building those all important long term relationships” says Rosie Beswick of Networking with Style.
“It also allows the opportunity to meet people that you may not necessarily come across in your usual day to day activities or social circle,” says Helen Whittingham a member of British Network International. “Networking will open up your mind to the range of professions practised locally which you might not necessarily realise are available to you, and in many cases at reasonable cost. Networking is very much a two-way street and the opportunity to help others succeed is very rewarding. As long as every one has the same objective of helping others then everyone will benefit,” says Helen.

Support Network

Starting a business can be a very daunting and lonely process. The regular meetings can provide a great support network.
“For women in business the confidence boost of being part of a network is tremendous. Women naturally seem more cautious and lack the confidence of men, but when they do go for it, statistics prove that they are more likely to succeed than a man,” Rosie Beswick states. “Think of the collective knowledge of a room filled with 30 business women - starters or established businesses - why would anyone not be keen to tap into that? it’s a Pandora’s Box for the focused business woman!”

Who can attend?

Anyone in business can attend. One newly launched all women’s networking group in Bridgnorth cites anyone from corporate lawyers to babysitters. At meetings I have attended there were women representing the law, the police, a cake maker, a baker, (not quite a candlestick maker – but a lady selling candles) a lady hiring out ball dresses, a conference organiser, a copywriter, a couple of retailers, a farmer and even a magazine editor.

The important thing is not to be intimidated – everyone is there to support each other – and people are genuinely very interested in what other people do.

Whether you network in a mixed, member only or all women environment is entirely up to you. Whichever you choose, it is my experience that you will be given a warm welcome and will only be judged in the positive.

Stick at it

One important aspect of networking which was mentioned by all the women I consulted – was to stick at it: “Too many networkers attend their first meeting, do not make a sale and then never go again. It is essential to work at building relationships as you never know who your contacts know and who they can put you in touch with. Network regularly and you will start to achieve results,” says Carole.

Rosie Beswick adds; “So many attend once, expect to sell and when they don’t, they do not bother again. Or they cherry pick events – often missing vital learning experiences or business opportunities just because the agenda sounds dull. It is one of the basics of marketing, you have to put your message over many times, in many ways, through many mediums and keep doing this long term, as a seed sown today will, if nurtured, often provided a good outcome, but it might take 12-18 months.”

A final word of advice from Carole: “A key point to remember is that you continue networking when the order books are full to retain an even turnover of business, and not fall into the feast and famine curve that so often occurs”.

So what have you got to lose? Networking clearly works very well for many individuals, and although for some the thought of meeting new people can be off putting – for those prepared to make that initial commitment the results can be extremely satisfying.

There are simply loads of networking meetings in Shropshire:

WiRE has four women’s network groups running in Shropshire: Oswestry, Ludlow, Telford and Shrewsbury.
www.wireuk.org

Networking with Style holds two meetings, one in Shrewsbury, one in Telford once a month. Self employed or decision making employed women welcome. www.networkwithstyle.com

Shropshire Business Women – holds monthly members meetings.
Visit www.sbws.org to find out more.

Stiletto Golf – women only network with a round of golf thrown in.
www.stiletto-golf.co.uk

In the Know – is a weekly women’s networking group in Bridgnorth.
Call 0800 0932417

Shrewsbury Enterprise - for home based entrepreneurs, mobile workers and the new nomadic professional.
www.enterprise-hq.co.uk

The Rural Meeting Place – regular networking in the Ludlow area.
www.theruralmeetingplace.com  Call 01584 890007

BNI (British Network International). Holds meetings throughout Shropshire.
www.bni-europe.com

The Shropshire Business Link website has useful information -

www.shropshirebusinesssolutions.co.uk

www.businessmusketeers.co.uk

www.4networking.biz

www.inc-shropshire.co.uk

Networking is about five things:
• Marketing
• Business morale support and confidence building
• Learning new skills and technique
• Finding new suppliers
• Mixing with the wider business world which helps to break down barriers, makes the inaccessible accessible and helps   everyone have the ability to trade outside their comfort zone.