Networking meetings increasing in UK businesses

This article on the Fresh Business Thinking website is music to our ears here at Networking in Surrey!

Hate to say we told you so, but we have been preaching about the low cost and high return on investment of tiem and money when you do it right...

Networking has increased within UK companies according to a new report. The marketing technique is now used by nearly 3 out of 5 (58%) companies, a sign that companies today prefer to deepen relationships by face-to-face contact.

Compared to a similar report last year (the 2012 Channel Vision report), networking has increased by 15% over the last 12 months, a sign that in today’s digital age companies feel the need to boost their relations with their customers in a more personal way.

The new report, Channel Vision — Version 2.0, put together by design, marketing and print specialists Catalogues 4 Business (C4B) questioned over 100 organisations within the United Kingdom. The report was drawn from a diverse mix of businesses, both B2B and B2C, and combination of industry sectors.

The report reflects that networking is second in terms of importance for delivering sales, managing director at C4B, Ian Simpson states: “A majority of companies within the UK have found that networking has become a crucial element to their organisation. Even though social media and digital marketing has been increasing in popularity, networking has become that much more important. People prefer to talk to humans rather than computers and prefer to receive information in their hand rather than in an email. Its much more personal and appealing. A catalogue therefore becomes a great sales tool for any networker.” [read more here...]