And about time too! My whole theory on this is that as a small business you cannot belong to too many networking groups. The more you network, the bigger your database, the more likelyhood you will get work. 100% of my business is sourced out of networking. My greatest challenge in all of this is to try and help people who are not natural networkers, to network. Other networking opportunities are Inner Circle (www.innercircleforum.co.za) and Business Warriors (www.businesswarriors.co.za) and Women In Finance (www.womeninfinance.co.za) and Small Business Hubb (www.small-business-hub.co.za) and Biz Builders (www.bizbuilders.co.za) and My Genius (www.mygenius.co.za). Go out there and network, network and then network some more.

Regards
Nikki

Ntokozo Ndlovu

29 November 2006 at 07h19

One of the challenges currently facing small businesses is the question of how to grow and sustain the business. Biznetwork is aimed at supporting the growth of small businesses, by providing relevant information on issues that affect small businesses. It is an educational and networking business initiative which was started by First National Bank (FNB). "The aim of Biznetwork is to assist small enterprises to gear for growth and to develop into medium and even large enterprises," says Shaun Edmeston CEO of Biznetwork. "It allows companies to run a healthy operational business. "It is a portal packed with know-how and business tools, and chat forums that offer companies the opportunity to build business relationships and learn from other's experiences,"explains Edmeston. He says that Biznetwork conducts quarterly seminars throughout the year to address various challenges facing businesses ranging from the theoretical to practical aspects of sales, research, verbal and non-verbal communication, innovation, to financing the business.

"One of the challenges in sales is to understand the strengths of the people in your sales team and playing to those strengths," says Juliet Newton, managing director of Avocado Vision, who recently spoke in one of Biznetwork's seminar on sales. She explains that structuring sales forces is one of the most important attributes to make a business successful.
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"Sales is not just about having people with outgoing personalities, it is their ability to build relationships that is important," said Newton. "There are a number of things to consider with the current economic situation of this country, there is a lot of spending in the market place, and the most important thing for any business is to understand where they stand with their customers," explains Edmeston. "South African companies need to learn more about setting service standards, as these are a huge factor in terms of differentiating businesses in the market place," he says.

Bizcommunity organises seminars around current issues facing small businesses, invite experts in that particular field and address the issues in question. Edmeston adds that there are a lot of entrepreneurial opportunities, people need to understand what has and what needs to be done to become an entrepreneur. "Having the right information and knowing what affects your business is fundamental in growing any business," he says. "We want to create an environment for small businesses to build sustainable business much further into the future, and to further assist the in decreasing unemployment rates, by growing businesses that will benefit the economy of the country," concludes Edmeston. Any business owners who need information and networking opportunities to grow their business can become members of Biznetwork.

For more information visit the site www.biznetwork.co.za