Business networking ‘even more important in small cities like Macau’

Nidhi Kush Shah

Facilitating the development of relationships between businesses and creating effective networking strategies is crucial for companies to enjoy success, particularly in small cities like Macau, the founder and director of Alchemy Consulting, Nidhi Kush Shah, said this week at a France-Macau Business Association (FMBA) breakfast meeting.
Based in Hong Kong, her company provides learning and development programs designed “to motivate and inspire individuals and businesses to grow better.” Besides offering courses in personal branding, communication skills and networking, Ms Shah’s company also provides training in interpersonal communication and intercultural communication.
During her talk, Ms Shah demonstrated how business leaders and individuals can make use of strategic business networking to increase their sales, enhance their client base and build trusting relationships.
“In a place like Macau, networking is even more important because it’s not just about exchanging business cards or meeting over a glass of wine. It is about building that relationship; especially in a small city – where a lot of business professionals know each other; it’s really the time when we can look to our networks and look to our existing relationships and see how can we help each other (…) to achieve mutual goals” she told The Times on the sidelines of yesterday’s talk.
Ms Shah recalled that “we are increasingly moving towards a time when people are doing business with people they like.” “It’s about people they like and people they trust, so it is very important for us to network effectively,” she reiterated.
Merely exchanging business cards or asking common and repeated questions are no longer enough. According to Ms Shah, it is important to create a good first impression by standing out from the crowd. This can be done by presenting ourselves in a different light and by asking “questions that will require the other person to give us something other than an automatic response.”
Instead of asking about the services a person’s company provides, we can ask about the reasons for the company’s success. Instead of saying we are the head of talent at a particular company, we can introduce ourselves by explaining what we are passionate about, she suggested.
“Networking communication plays a big role in our strategy. These are simple communication effects (…) that can help people stand out and stay memorable,” she added.
Identifying the people with whom we wish to network and carefully choosing networking events in which we feel more comfortable are also key strategies.
Ms Shah began her career in Australia but has lived and worked in India, Germany and now Hong Kong. She acknowledged that culture plays an important role in business strategies. “I learned early on that if I want to succeed in any work place I have to understand the cultural subtleties and understand what motivates people of a certain culture.”
In China, she assures that cultural understanding is key in the business sector. People are looking to build business relationships rather than cementing a simple contact base, she said. Ms Shah also recalled that negotiations here take time and “nothing is [the product of] instant gratification.” “If I am being very forthright and very honest and giving very critical feedback it might offend the other person because he or she is not used to that. These are some of the subtle differences,” she added.
One should think about the right way to communicate and how to build business relationships, taking into account the country and its cultural background.
“A lot of people from different countries are coming here and the region is becoming more like a melting pot and it is important to know how different people will come together,” she acknowledged.
Therefore, personal branding “is the most important personal career tool,” according to Ms Shah. She concluded by saying that throughout her career she had to rebrand herself a number of times due to moving countries. “Talking about Macau, it is important because here you might find a lot of people who have similar businesses. And so what [can] we do to stand out? [We need to consider how to] stay memorable and stay connected.”