How to Identify Who is in Your Network
Feb 01, 2024
Your network is where hidden opportunities wait quietly for you. It has the potential to open doors or introduce clients to your business. But do you know who is in your network?
When you’re first starting your holistic business, or if you need to find clients fast, start by looking at your network. By your network, I’m talking about everyone you’re connected to - your friends and family and your wider network including colleagues, peers, acquaintances, communities you belong to, social media groups, etc.
These are the people who already know, like, and trust you. They may not be looking for your help themselves, but they could know people who are. And by understanding what you do, they hold the key to helping you find clients fast.
I’m not including clients and enquiries in this group as you should already be nurturing these relationships. We call these your hot leads – the people most likely to book to work with you now. If you want to find out more about how to nurture these people, check out this blog: what marketing to do, when in your holistic business.
Building Relationships
At its core, the best marketing is about building meaningful relationships and connecting with people. For example, when you go networking it’s no longer about forcing yourself and your business on others, it’s about understanding each other’s businesses and supporting each other to thrive.
Relationships are the basis of the exercise I’m going to share with you. It's something I did with my coach when we started working together and I still refer to and update it years later. It's highlighted several opportunities for nurturing great, mutually beneficial relationships that have resulted in some exciting projects.
5-minute Idea Dump
Grab a piece of paper and start listing down everyone you know. This can be a mind map or as lists – whatever format works for you. Don’t overthink it - just write down everyone you’re connected with in some way. You can always add to this later, but this is a great starting point for understanding who you have in your network and just how many people you’re connected with.
Identify Your Network VIPs
Now you have a list of people in front of you, consider who on the list you have a relationship with that you could nurture to benefit you both. Pick one or two people to get to know at a deeper level and consider how you can help them. It’s by approaching these people, with a view to helping them first, that will help to create good foundations for the relationship. Done well, these people will become great allies for you and your business.
Re-Connect and Update List
Take the remainder of your idea dump and start to identify those who you think would be interested in an update about what you're doing now.
Personally, I wouldn’t include anyone you know to be cynical about your business as they won’t be worth your time and energy. As for everyone else, reach out to them individually, in an appropriate way. So, if you’d normally communicate on WhatsApp – send them a message there, rather than an email. Personalise each of the messages based on how you know them and include an update on what you’re doing – use your simple marketing message which is designed to be understood and repeated.
If you’re not sure what to include in your marketing message, check out this blog: Creating a Marketing Message.
You never know where this simple exercise could lead – reconnecting with people can be joyous and has the potential to attract clients to your business too.
