Networking

1. Your networking purpose

Why are you attending this particular event? Be specific. Do you want to meet a particular person or persons? For what purpose? If you do meet, what will you say?

It helps if you find out as much as possible about him or her on a personal level. Is
he an art lover? Is she known to enjoy mentoring young people? Have you read
something lately they might enjoy hearing about?

Do you personally know someone else at the gathering who could introduce you? If
so, you are ahead of the game. Try to arrange the introduction in advance.

2. How will you get there?

Be sure you know exactly where the event is to be held and how you will travel. In
some big city downtown areas, public transportation is faster and more reliable than
driving.

If you do plan to drive, where will you park? Call the venue and ask about available
parking, and allow enough time to take care of it. Don’t arrive flustered and in a bad
mood because you spent half an hour looking for a parking spot and then had to
run half a block to get there on time.

3. What will you wear?

This is not a trivial decision. It’s about your business image, the impression you
make on those you meet, and it can have a huge effect on how well you do at this
business of networking. Networking for business or career development calls for a
businesslike attitude and appearance. Caution: “business casual” is to be avoided.
It’s much better to be slightly overdressed than appear uncaring, an impression
often created by casual clothing.

Whether it’s in the heat of midsummer or the dead of winter, you should enter the
actual networking area looking your best. Discard winter boots or overshoes in the
cloakroom and change into smart shoes. In summer, regardless of temperature,
there’s nothing businesslike about bare toes hanging over the edge of backless
sandalssave that look for the beach or the Red Carpet! Check your hair and overall
appearance before entering the networking area. (That goes for both men and
women.)

Think carefully about your wardrobe and prepare your clean, pressed outfit the
night before.

If you’d like a free checklist to help you prepare for networking events and make the
most of what you do afterwards, go to http://www.mhwcom.com/pages/networkingchecklist.html

Helen Wilkie is a professional keynote speaker, workshop leader and author
specializing in applied communication, including networking. Read more articles on
communication subjects on her website at http://www.mhwcom.com Subscribe to
Helen’s free monthly e-zine, “Communi-keys”, and get your free 40-page e-book, 23 ideas you
can use RIGHT NOW to communicate and succeed in your business career!

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Your network is growing. You know lots of different business people and you are getting to know what they can deliver. And, of course, they are getting to know you and what you offer.

But does everyone know EVERYTHING about you? And do you know ALL there is to know about your contacts?

You need to know all this if you are going to seize every opportunity to build even stronger business relationships

Create Your Referral Matrix

The simplest way to keep an eye on what is developing is to create a Referral Matrix. The concept is very simple. The Referral Matrix gives you an ‘At-a-Glance’ picture of your business relationships progress.

You’ll do this for your own contacts and services/products and another for your contacts products.

Let’s start with your services and products.

1) Take a piece of paper.

2) Draw a grid shape. You need enough columns going across to list all your products and services in the top row; show one in each.

3) In the first column of the rows going down list your contacts.

4) Choose 3 different, strong, colors. One represents ‘Told‘, another for ‘Sold‘ and the third for ‘Referred‘

5) When you tell a contact about one of your products; have supplied information so you know he/she is fully aware of it, mark the color for ‘Told‘ against that company in the column for your product/service. (I usually fill in a third of the box).

6) When a contact has bought a product/service from you add the ‘Sold‘ color - you now have two thirds of the box completed.

7) When a contact recommends you to someone else, ‘refers you’, fill in the ‘Referred‘ color.

Some of the boxes may have the Told and Referred, but not the Sold color.

Now you can see, at a glance, which of your contacts do not know about some of your products (in which case you can inform them) and, just as importantly, if they have been informed whether they have bought from you or referred you to someone else.

Create a similar chart for each of your ‘Hot’ networking contacts - those you have a close working relationship with.

By doing this you take a pro-active stance to recommending their services to other people you know AND you’ll know if they do something that you may need in the future.

Do this and you are building strong relationships.

What’s more you’ll get a good reputation for being the ‘person who knows’ and your networking circle will grow.

(This works really well on a spreadsheet, such as Excel. If you would like to see what the grid looks like, send an email to excel-matrix[at]aweber.com, and request the Referral Matrix PDF).

©2005 Original Work by Carol Bentley

Learn more about Persuading People to Buy… Subscribe to your free reports, with no obligation, at http://www.CarolBentley.com

Carol is the author of ‘I Want to Buy Your Product… Have You Sent Me a Letter Yet? (How to create powerful sales letters, advertisements, flyers, brochures, web pages and newsletters that persuade hundreds, or even thousands, of additional customers and clients to buy from you!) by Carol A E Bentley (Rated 5-star on Amazon.co.uk) This book is available at a special offer at http://www.CarolBentley.com/offer

Carol is one of the highest paid direct response copywriters available. If you would like to talk to Carol’s office about having her work on your current or next sales project you can use the contact form on her website http://www.CarolBentley.com/contact.asp

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You might feel that Networking is of value for your business, but still wonder if its worth the effort.

It is worth considering why Networking can be so valuable. I have selected 8 of the most important reasons, and give justification for my selections. What do you think?

1) You increase Sales!

This is the most obvious reason for networking, and many people would put it clearly ahead of all the others. They rely on the principle that the more people you can meet, then the more sales you’ll be able to make. While there is a certain truth to this, I think there’s a lot more to Networking, as you’ll see below.

2) Develop ongoing Relationships

This is more like Networking, rather than simply trying to make sales there and then. You will be aiming to get to know people better, and for them to know more about you in return. In business there often needs to be a great deal of trust, and it helps if you have known your contacts over an extended period, and you know you can trust and rely on them.

3) Recommend Businesses to each Other

Once you begin to know more about a person, you will get a good idea as to whether she is trustworthy or not. Also you have a better understanding of the products or services that are on offer. Even if you are not in a position to take advantage of these, you might know of people you can recommend who might be interested, or even directly refer these people to your networking contact.

4) Have other People refer You

As well as you being able to recommend people, hopefully they will find that they can confidently recommend you and your services or products. Usually you shouldn’t need to chase these referrals, but instead find that people remember you when they learn of someone needing what you have to offer.

5) Exchange useful Information

Networking needn’t be just about directly helping sales. Sometimes if can be more valuable to gain special information which would otherwise be difficult to obtain. For instance, people you talk to might be able to suggest ways you can improve the operation of your business. Of course the exchange of information is a two-way process, and you should look for any opportunity to help any of your contacts.

6) Learn of Business Opportunities

Networking is particularly valuable when you need to build your business. Not only can you learn of potential customers for whatever you have to offer, but you might hear of a new direction for your business that it might be useful to investigate. For instance, if you hear of a major business is relocating to your area, you might be able to arrange to supply it directly.

7) Learn of Employment Opportunities

You don’t necessary already have a business up-and-running to be able to benefit from Networking. It can even be useful to be networking when you are looking for your first job. Once you have been able to establish yourself as a reliable and trustworthy person, then you might be fortunate enough to be offered employment, or at least referred on to a contact who might be interested in employing you.

You enjoy the Networking Process

At first we are probably all a bit reluctant to make enough effort to network. After a while, however, you will probably find yourself keen to take advantage of any opportunity. This is particularly the case if you network well, and feel that you are helping other people as well as gaining benefits for yourself. It will be satisfying to meet new people, learn about them and their business, and see how you can be of value to each other.

So these are some of the main reasons why Networking can be considered to be valuable. How many of these reasons can be applied to yourself?

Can you see why it is likely that you are not taking sufficient advantage of any Networking opportunities that come your way? What are you going to do to improve your Networking?

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Geoffrey Ponder is an experienced Technical Writer who has worked on contract for some of the leading Investment Banks, as well as Consulting firms such as PwC and KPMG. Recently he has been involved in Property Investment, and has built up a substantial portfolio of rental properties.

Now he is concentrating on helping people network more effectively, in order to build their business. In particular, he feels that Online Networking has a great deal to offer any business, anywhere in the world. This is often the best way of developing numerous contacts for mutual benefit.

You can learn more by going to -
http://www.Networking-Knowledge.com

If you subscribe to the free newsletter you’ll receive regular articles to further improve your understanding of Networking, and help you gain more from Networking.

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