Is your networking notworking?

Got no business, yet you did all the things you were told? Try this 3 point action plan.

I have met many people who know that networking works for them and works well. It works well for me too, that’s why I eat 2-3 breakfasts a week (and need a new diet plan); I know exactly how much work (to the penny) it delivers; but some people say it does not work.

Who do you know who…

A person I know recently proclaimed that networking wasn’t working and she would be stopping forthwith, after only a few months of networking. Later I was talking about this with a friend they made the following statement “after seeing her 4 – 5 times, and listening to her elevator pitch I still don’t really understand what she does”.

That got me thinking, so I asked a couple of other people that have met her:

It’s easy, after the first 1000 times

In a separate conversation I was talking to somebody about how hard it was to sell. The point was that this person has a thriving IT business, and was getting lots of great clients. They were telling me how hard it was to learn how to sell themselves and their product, and that it took some months before they worked it out. Once they’d mastered it, done it a few hundred times, it became easier. Now the important part.

Teach people your short cuts & signs.

People that are selling on your behalf don’t have the luxury of time; they’ve only known you a short time and their main role is selling themselves, not you. Do they know how to recognise potential interest signals in your product, do they then know how to respond?

Your job in a networking referral group is to teach them these points, for a small, simple part of what you sell.

It’s your job to make it simple, not their’s. So if you change your offering, widen your net every week or ramble on in your “60 seconds”, members of the group won’t understand or will switch off. Information overload leads to not understanding how to hear and respond. Even when they know how to hear and respond, they need to be in the right place in front of the right person (and motivated to do it for you).

You’ve done all that hundreds of times, they haven’t; think how you felt when first selling your product. It may be simple for you now, but not then, and not for them.

How well is it working, really?

The final true story is quite common too. You hear somebody say “I’m not getting enough business to make networking worthwhile”; but you’ve passed them business and you know others who have too?

Somebody I knew had invoiced £5,000 from referrals after 4 months of belonging to a networking group and said the same. Track the referrals you’re getting and how much business you’re getting from them. You may be surprised by the results.

If you’re not converting the referral to a sale, it’s your fault, not the networking group’s fault ; if you are converting, remember where you got the business.

Networking 3 point action plan

1. Ask 2-3 people what they think you sell, ask them for a personal favour, and be humble. DON’T correct them or stop them from talking, just listen and learn. The meaning of communication is what the other person hears, not what you said. If 2-3 people don’t get what you sell, change your message.
2. Ask a couple of people (that you know well enough to tell you the truth); how do you come across? If they include things like “sometimes you can be a bit negative”, “occasionally overly assertive”, “you’re a really nice person, but…”. There is certainly something there for you to learn, and change.
3. Think about how you felt when first selling your product. What little slither of information started to make it easier, what phrase did you hear to indicate potential interest, how did you learn to respond. That’s what you need to teach people in a referral group. Check that message has landed, ask 2-3 people.

After a little research you can find out a lot about the way you’re coming across and how well your message is landing. You might not like the results, but don’t blame the people you talk to. You may now be armed with some things you can do to change, and keep networking.

You might still think networking isn’t for you, but you’ve got some fantastic research, which is valuable when you’re in front of real prospects too. That for me is a tremendous, uncounted benefit of networking – the research and learning is invaluable.

You may also like to read:

1. Is sector specific networking dead?
2. 1 Networking tip – your one minute
3. Sector specific networking alive and well?

Tagged as: business networking, one to one, presentation skills, regular networking