"I've heard about 'The-Grapevine',
but what is it and how does it work?".
That's a question I'm often asked.

The-Grapevine is a Virtual Business Network, it was established in 2005 to deliver a virtual networking facility that produces REAL business results for like-minded professionals and networkers across Scotland. Membership is free, so please do sign-up. You will find a link here.

We began with only 350 members and here we are March 2009 with membership numbers at a staggering 8000+ and growing!

Since its formation, The-Grapevine has been hugely successful - thousands of business people based predominantly across the central belt of Scotland use it now on a regular basis to make the connections they need to succeed in their business - but of course, the beauty is - you don't even have to leave your desk to do so! It would seem the opportunity to extensively network on a virtual basis only happens here at The-Grapevine. 

The potential market for business networking is enormous. Over 20 million businesses worldwide are members of local chambers of commerce. Add to that all the marketing, business development, and non-retail sales professionals. Human resource managers, recruiters, job seekers and the number gets very large. Generating revenue and supporting other businesses via relationships are as compelling reasons to connect on-line as finding old schoolmates and potential dating partners. The big drivers for virtual or electronic networking are mobility and shortness of time. It is obvious that only the electronic world enables you to overcome both to generate new contacts.

I happened across this strap-line "Collecting data is the first step to wisdom. Sharing data is the first step to community". This sums up perfectly my thinking when I first set up The-Grapevine. Through the power of networking jobs are found, deals are made, goodwill is generated and money is raised because of the connections people have.

As its popularity continues to increase The-Grapevine is hard to beat when it comes to developing and maintaining relationships in terms of providing relevant information in a timely and economical way.

Many folk seem to have an inbuilt misconception that networking means a joyless evening of hard-selling and being hard-sold to. The-Grapevine corrects that misconception. Virtual networking on The-Grapevine is a powerful and effective way to spread the word about your business, brining you not only new customers and clients, but also press opportunities, practical support and possibilities you may not have considered.

Do take a moment to sign up for our e-newsletter, The Harvest. You will find a link here.

Take a look also at Vine Vernacular - a selection of our members will tell you why they use The-Grapevine and the benefits of doing so.