The motto ‘contacts are our stock in trade’ is usually reserved for the journalism trade, particularly for freelance reporters believing that who they know, not what they know, will bring them their next story.
But it seems the recession has led to a growing number of business people, not just in the media, recognising – and acting upon - the importance of a well-oiled wheel of contacts.
Figures from the US-based Business Network International (BNI) show a 21 per cent increase in the number of word-of-mouth referrals among its 15,000 British members last year.
Charlie Lawson, BNI’s national director in the UK, said: “The recession has changed the way people do business but more importantly the route which small enterprises are using to market themselves.”
BNI, which operates in more than 40 countries, is well-placed to measure the value of networking, because referrals between its members are tracked to ensure they result in an invoiced piece of work.
In 2009, the sum of those invoices was £230 million, up from £185million in 2008, representing the single biggest annual increase since the organisation launched in the UK 14 years ago.
“A powerful personal network can carry you through difficult times,” Mr Lawson said. “In times like this, people want to do business with people they trust more than ever.”
In other words, people are more likely to spend their money on a product or service if it has been directly recommended to them, BNI said, because they are “more cautious” with their spending.
Mar 5, 2010
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