When I landed in Yorkshire just before the millennium, I had moved 14 times in 12 years with my career which included being an on-screen TV reporter with various news organisations throughout the UK and Hong Kong.

Having previously lived in the Midlands where I was freelancing for organisations including the National Trust and a multi-national manufacturer, I did, not possess one single business contact in the whole of Yorkshire.

Drive and determination transformed me into a serial networker and I was appointed one of the first Chapter Directors with a global high-profile organisation whose ethos is ‘Giver’s Gain’.

Dragging myself out of bed 5am on bitterly cold winter days to put on my warmest smile at a Leeds city centre venue was tough – but it provided me with the springboard to launch my company.

Thanks to BNI, I met a fabulous business strategist from one of my longest-standing clients and, before long, I had built up a great client portfolio.

To this day I appreciate and value the encouragement I received from BNI’s Niri Patel in perfecting my networking skills and learning that, as with everything in life – the more you give, the more you will receive.

I hope these tips help you to be a powerful networker:

1. Select your target audiences: Begin with the end in mind and decide who you want to engage with. If it is sole practitioners or smaller companies, the Federation of Small Business could be ideal. The Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Directors are likewise popular with small and medium sized enterprises. Businesswomen seeking to network with fellow female entrepreneurs can find a plethora of great associations.
2. Don’t be daunted if you don’t know anyone: When venturing out on your own for the first time, don’t be put off by the sober-suited groups when you enter a room. Take a deep breath, put on your biggest smile and say ‘hello’ to the person with the friendliest face – they will invariably welcome you into their ‘circle’.
3. Don’t try too hard!: Once you are ensconced in a group, be yourself and avoid trying to be overtly intelligent or witty – particularly if jokes are not your forte. (I learnt this the hard and embarrassing way and still cringe when recalling my faux pas).
4. Ask people questions about themselves: The pearls of wisdom from How to Win Friends and Influence People are still relevant today. The more you help your networking peers to grow their businesses, the more they will reciprocate.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals: You have risen before the sparrows in order to gain more business, so why hold back on asking for specific introductions which could power your organisation to the next level?
6. Perfect your elevator speech: Encapsulate your business offering in 60 seconds. Make it memorable and spell out what makes you different. Our elevator speech, for example, outlines how our powerful online and offline campaigns guarantee coverage in clients’ target media and numbers of ‘hits’ on clients’ websites and blogs.
7. Put your photograph on your business card: It gives your potential clients instant recall and is particularly helpful if they have met you at an event attended by hundreds of people.
8. Log the business card details of your new contacts ASAP: If you don’t, the day/ week could hijack you and you have not only wasted the previous time you have invested in networking, but you could also be losing potential sales.    
9. Follow up new contacts immediately: The adage ‘strike while the iron is hot’ is crucial if you are to maximise opportunities. Email your prospects within a day of meeting them – the longer you leave it, the more ‘hazy’ their memory of why they wanted to meet up with you becomes.
10. Evaluate your success. We all know that what gets measured gets treasured, so set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess the return on your networking investment.