Breakfast Networking

Breakfast is a good time for networking. Why? Because it is a good way to start your day - focused on building your business. Also breakfast is an inexpensive meal and the meeting need not go on too long – unlike dinner. Lunch is a good second choice for networking meetings.

One-on-one or small-group breakfast meetings are even more effective for exploring and building business relationships.

A large business group breakfast is another type of networking meeting.

Meeting with a networking group can be an effective way of building your business. Or it could be a huge waste of your time. The business success that you get from your networking group depends mostly on you and partly on the nature of the group.

Recently I attended a breakfast meeting for a local networking group as their guest speaker. It was a delicious buffet breakfast. They had the typical agenda: networking time, breakfast, self-introductions to the group, guest speaker, special announcements and finish by nine. A reasonably tight agenda.

However, while eating, I was disappointed by the discussion around my breakfast table. The discussion was frivolous and negative. My tablemates talked about petty things - like the bank representative who complained about her office with no windows. The others found other things to complain about. As I listened in dismay I wondered how this discussion would help any of them get more business.

They seemed to miss the whole point of this networking breakfast – to develop their networks so they could get more business.

Perhaps they thought that networking was an on-stage thing. That they are only networking when they deliver their 30-second introduction. Maybe they believed that while eating breakfast they were not networking.

The reality of networking is that while in small groups over breakfast you have a captive audience to develop your networking relationships. This group squandered their opportunity and they might have irreparably damaged their image amongst that intimate group. Who wants to be remembered as a whiner and complainer?

It was a good thing that the breakfast was delicious – and the guest speaker was fabulous.

When it comes to networking – you are always on-stage.

© George Torok is the author of “Your Guide to Networking Success”. He is the co-author of the national bestseller, “Secrets of Power Marketing”, the first guide to personal marketing for the non-marketer. As host of the weekly radio show he has interviewed over 400 business leaders. You can claim your copy of “Your Guide to Networking Success” at www.NetworkingExposed.com