I have been using business networking since 2006 to grow my own business, with most success coming from late 2008 when I joined BNI and started using their structured networking framework.
BNI stands for Business Network International, and brings together a group of local business trades and professionals from all different industries, providing them with a framework to generate referrals for each other. It’s managed and run by its members for its members, with a leadership team that changes every six months.
I am a member of BNI Surrey, in the Caterham group.
BNI South East is a franchise owned by Robert French, Executive Director, which covers Kent, Essex and Surrey – supporting growth of over 1312 businesses, across 58 groups.
As well as the local groups, BNI is also a global organisation. BNI has 6,200 groups globally, with a total of 145,000 members. In the South East there are 58 groups – 27 in Kent, 16 in Essex and 15 in Surrey.
Having been a member myself since 2008 I have seen the positive results that come from utilising a structured system of business networking.
What is your own strategy for business networking?
