How much time should you spend networking?

There’s a lot of debate around how much time you should spend networking.

If you’re starting a business, or aiming for growth, there’s no getting around it. You need to build some networking time into your working hours to meet and attract the right people. 

But how much time is too much? After all, you don’t want to be spending all your time networking. That won’t leave much room for actually getting the client work done. 

Unfortunately, there’s no magic number that will give you a definitive answer to the question. But we’ve come up with a few tips to bear in mind when you’re carving out time to network.

Quality over quantity

It’s not always a case of the more you network, the more work you’ll get from it. You could go to 10 networking meetings in a week. That doesn’t mean you’ll get 10 new clients.

It’s all about quality over quantity. Are you networking with the right people? Are you carefully picking out networking events you know will be worthwhile?

It’s much better to make one valuable connection in a single event than 10 superficial connections across 10 events. Quality over quantity is key.

Prioritise from the get go

Before you join any networking groups or events, think about what you want to gain from them. Connections from other professionals in your industry? Related industries? Client leads? Or just getting your name out there?

Knowing your specific goals from the start will help you use your time more effectively. You can go to networking meetings and events with priorities in mind - what kind of events to go to, who you want to make connections with. 

Your time spent on networking will then be so much more valuable. It probably won’t take you nearly as long to find what you’re looking for.

Save time for other tasks

If you’re just starting out, you might not have any current client work. In which case, it makes sense to use more time networking and build connections that lead to future work.

But if you’ve got clients on the go already, you need to prioritise them. If you spend all your time networking, you won’t have any time to get the work done. You could lose clients and damage your brand reputation.

It’s no good using all your time to get more clients if you lose the ones you already have in the process. Otherwise, you’ll always be going back to square one.

It’s not just the events

When people think of networking, their minds go to events and meetings. But it’s more than that. When it comes to networking, it’s all about building relationships. It’s not a one and done job. You need to nurture the connections you make. 

If you make a great connection, follow up on it. You can’t gain everything you need from one meeting. Make the effort to meet with people one-on-one or send follow up emails. 

All of this takes time too. When you’re carving out time to network, remember to include time following up on the connections you make from events and meetings. Otherwise, chances are time spent in those meetings will be wasted. Why not download our handy Networking Checklist to help you through the process?

At In Business, we want to give business owners the opportunity to build their network and foster meaningful professional relationships. Get in touch with us today to find out more about working with us.