Networking | Making Personal Connections

Many of my clients find me because another vendor recommended my services. That is the best compliment - a referral from someone in my own industry! I know people find Pearls Events in random Google searches, but I don't rely on fancy SEO work in order for potential clients to find me. This season alone, I know for a fact, that two photographers I've never worked with professionally before, recommended my services to clients who ended up booking me on the spot. Those are two clients that trusted their photographers experience and liked me during our initial interview.

Instead of working on my Google rating, I focus my attention on seeking out other wedding pros in my local network to make personal connections with. How do I find these people? Twitter, Facebook, the MWEP Network I head up, blog comments, etc. I am in an industry that prefers to communicate via the world wide web, so the odds of finding new people is quite high. Yesterday, in fact, I had lunch with a wedding photographer who found me via Twitter. We enjoyed lunch, chatted about the industry and I cannot wait to work with him.

Personal connections have always been easy to make for me - I'm an extrovert and can always ask questions to keep the conversation going. I get this social ability from my mother and thank her silently everytime I'm in an awkward social situation.

There are always going to be people who "don't have time" for coffee. Don't let that discourage you as you seek our your professional network. I know a few local vendors who don't place a high value on making these connections, especially with newbies. In my local wedding industry, there are plenty of people to connect with, so move on to the next person and don't worry - you can be successful at building your own network of fabulous people even without the high end venue who can't work you into their schedule for months. Just like anything else, you need to work on it to be good at it.

If you're in the West Michigan wedding industry, I'd LOVE to meet you at the next MWEP meeting on July 27th. Details on our Facebook page here.