Virbac's National Sales Meeting offered employees the opportunity to utilize a simple but powerful communication tool: networking

By Krystin Piatt, Virbac Human Resources Manager

Here at Virbac, we recently hosted our annual US National Sales Meeting (NSM), in which the dedicated members of our various sales teams came together, in person, to learn about new products and get refresher courses on our existing products.

Events such as the NSM are great opportunities for us to utilize what is often thought of as a company’s most powerful internal communication tool: networking. Over the course of any given convention or multi-day meeting, you have one chance after another to meet new people who have joined your organization, build a relationship with someone in another department or region, find a mentor, be a mentor, and share insight - and hopefully a lot of laughs - with colleagues you don’t often get to see in the flesh.

“You never can tell how much you know without listening to other people,” business writer Bianca Miller Cole wrote in a Forbes article about the importance of networking. “When networks have been created, it fosters a trade of ideas to sustain long-term relationships and mutual trust.”

Employees feeling connected and engaged are crucial parts of building a productive and efficient workplace. According to Gallup, a national marketing firm, connected teams drive collaboration, nurture healthy working relationships, and promote the sharing of knowledge. The more connected and less siloed a company is, the more effective and efficient it can be.

But oftentimes people forget about the importance of networking, let alone the importance of networking within your own company. By networking internally, you have the chance to learn about your company at a deeper level and make connections to people at all levels and seniority, sharpening your overall awareness of the company and its best business practices.

Networking, obviously, can help open doors to further your career within your company. “When people start noticing you, it opens the door for newer opportunities,” Cole wrote in her Forbes story. “Business and career-minded individuals who have networked over time have been able to expand their careers, with minimal effort, because of the avenue of new opportunities opened to them through networking. Your connections are powerful.”

Another benefit of networking: the domino effect it so often creates. Let’s say you’re not the best candidate for a newly created position - but you know the perfect person.

“The value of networking is not measured by the number of people we meet but by the number of people we introduce to others,” author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek wrote on Twitter.

For more tips on upping your networking game, read Cole’s Forbes story here.