It’s Friday night and you are at the industry networking drinks for a monthly meet and greet. Will you:

1. Make a new contact who will become a direct source of revenue for your business?
2. Make a new contact who will not generate revenue directly, but who could provide you with ongoing referrals from their wide network of contacts?

Chances are, with the right approach, you have the potential to make both kinds of contacts with equal benefit for your business.

This month’s Beilby Rewards survey shows that Australia’s business professionals are networking more than ever with 93% believing that networking is worth the effort and 34% reporting that they attend a networking function at least once a month. A significant 62% say finding time is their biggest difficulty while 73% say collecting names becomes a priority because they do not have a structured follow-up plan or do not know how to make best use of new contacts.

People network every day with the aim of making contacts and building relationships to help them in their business affairs.

However, where are you most likely to gain the relationships that you need?
Where are the most effective places to network and who are the most effective people to network with? 

Evidence suggests that it’s the people you know and the relationships that you already have that are often initially your best source of referrals.

So where are the best places to network? The obvious choices are industry events, seminars, conferences and business cocktail parties. The not so obvious places are community events and your children’s school and sporting functions.

Potentially, the best place to network is a specific networking group where people actively meet to discuss their business and make business contacts.

In such situations it is essential to know how to communicate what your business consists of and how you can help your potential contact. While this sounds like a simple thing, in reality people often have trouble effectively communicating what it is they do in an attractive, eloquent way.

Networking opportunities occur every day in a myriad of circumstances and opportunities to meet new contacts present in places that we may not normally associate with networking.

Look at every meeting as a meaningful encounter and you are well on the way to networking to the top.