Business Networking Blog

Competition or Collaboration?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:18:00 +0000

I was speaking at a seminar last week when someone with an IT support business said "I want to find Networks with fewer IT people because that means more opportunity for me". When we explored the subject he agreed that he actually got most referrals from other IT related service providers and said "Forget I said that. What I actually mean is that I want to find Networks with MORE IT People!"

Looking at others as competition is perfectly natural, but very few small businesses really compete directly. Very often other providers will provide complementary services and as you speak to the same buyers you can quickly build a referral relationship. Over time that will often lead to collaborating on bigger projects than you may be able to win on your own.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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How to really connect with someone

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Last week in 'How many business cards are in that desk drawer?' I wrote about the meaningless swapping of business cards that sometimes takes place in networking.

Networking is not about swapping business cards and moving on. You need to engage in conversation first to start the relationship. Listen to more about really connecting in this podcast:

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Do you spend too much time meeting new people?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:08:00 +0000

In a couple of seminars and One2One sessions this week we have discussed the amount of time spent on Networking. We have then broken that down into time spent in different aspects of networking:

1. Meeting new people
2. Getting to know existing contacts better
3. Spending time with your Inner Network
4. Building trust with your close contacts or advocates

Most people agree that before people buy from you or refer you they need to know, like and trust you and that takes time. You need to meet first, but then you need to keep meeting the people you like to really get to know them and build that trust.

The people I discussed this with during the week were spending nearly all their networking time on meeting new people with almost no time left for the most important relationship stuff. Getting to know the people they like and have already met. Then building trust with the ones they know and like.

Do you need look at your networking time?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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How many business cards are in that desk drawer?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0000

I was presenting the NRG Business networking Advocacy Model earlier this week when the question of collecting business cards came up.

I was talking about the importance of following up and asked how many in the audience had piles of business cards from events that they had never done anything with. Like most audiences there were knowing and embarrassed smiles from a good number.

I still meet people at networking meetings, who just collect a business card and move on. Sometimes all they do is just give out their own card! Most people are not like this at all. They are genuinely networking to develop relationships, but forget about following up when something else comes up back at the office.

If you don't follow up then you may as well be aiming for 1st prize in a non existent business card collecting competition.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Building your Pride

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:10:00 +0000

A couple of people recently have asked for advice on selecting people for their Inner Network. At the Referral Institute Conference last week Dawn Lyons and Jill Green spoke about the lessons you can learn from the different roles played by the members of a Pride of Lions in organising around a common goal.

Networking is about helping others as a way of growing your business, but it is important to build your pride with others committed to the same approach and with access to the right markets. People who will share your passion for what you do and who you can be passionate about too.

After the conference Dawn emailed me with some more on the subject of building your pride:

"The key to building your own pride is to first realize you have the right to select your pride members. Select wisely! Select pride members who are:
1) professional
2) they understand how to refer you
3) they believe in and are highly skilled in referral marketing
4) they have a want to and a desire to help you
5) you also enjoy referring them to others

Start slow and build your pride to 4-8 members and watch your referral business grow!"

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Ways of helping your advocates to refer you

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:38:00 +0000

I spoke at an event last night about the NRG Networking Advocacy Model*. The model suggests that effective networking is a result of building trusted relationships with your Inner Network. Others that share the same target market as you and provide a complementary service to yours. Over time you will actively refer and introduce some of these as you get to know, like, trust and rate them. Some of these will form your Advocate Network, the small group of people who regularly go out of their way to find introductions and referrals for you.

The speakers at the Referral Institute Conference last week all reinforced this view of networking. Sarah Owen addressed the subject of helping others to advocate you as you advocate them. The very act of advocating someone else is motivation for them, but only if they know! Unless you educate them on this and what you are looking for they will probably miss opportunities.

In your One2One interactions have you made sure they really know what you do and where? Can they pass on why you are good and what you love about your business? Do they know how you want to be promoted and who specifically you want to meet? Is there anything else that would make you stand out?

They may be saying things about you that you could use yourself.

*My previous post 'The Advocacy Model: Develop Advocates' has more detail and links to further posts on this subject.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Asking for referrals

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:17:00 +0000

The subject of when it is right to ask for referrals came up at a networking meeting last week. In 'Are you stuck doing lots of networking with little reward?' I wrote about Mike macedonio's talk at the Referral Institute Conference on the VCP process (tm). VCP is the acronym Dr. Ivan Misner uses for Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.

Mike emailed this 'nugget' to me afterward on this very subject:

"I do believe that in order to get referrals we need to ask. The key, however, is to know how to ask and when it is appropriate to make the request. When is the right time, you ask? The right time to ask for a referral is when BOTH parties are in the Credibility phase of the referral relationship. Networking should not be a system which ends up alienating your friends and family. Be conscious of the deposits you make into your relationships before you start “writing checks” or, in essence, ASKING for referrals from those you have relationships with."

As I wrote last week to be in this 'credibility' phase requires that each party knows each other and what they do and they perceive each other to be reliable and worthy of confidence. It's no good asking for a referral before someone even really knows you.

Just being part of a group does not mean you are known. You have to put some effort into building relationships. As I have written previously 'You don't get fit just by joining a gym' you have to follow a good process. I spoke to someone else last week who had been a member of a group for a year, but received no referrals. Part of the problem was he was not even known by many other of the others as he had only been able to attend one in four of the meetings! When you join a group make sure you can attend regularly and invest time in getting to really know the other members first.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Networking and Sex

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

The theme of one of the sessions at the Referral Institute UK & Ireland Conference was 'Networking and Sex - The Perfect Combination!' Hazel Walker shared some great insights from the findings of research she has completed with Ivan Misner on the different approaches to networking between men and women. Her talk was all about helping men and women to network more effectively with each other. She shared some great advice on the subject of asking for referrals and expanded on the presentation from Mike Macedonio that I wrote about a couple of days ago (Are you stuck doing lots of networking with little reward?)

The research findings suggested that men can have a tendency to go for a referral before establishing a good relationship. On the other hand women can be happy to carry on with the relationship and never ask for a referral. So women need to learn from men about asking for referrals at the right time and men need to learn from women about nurturing relationships first.

Hazel used some great dating analogies to illustrate the different approaches between men and women. Her forthcoming book on the subject promises to be a great read!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Referral Marketing lessons from the Golf Course

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Another speaker at the Referral Institute UK & Ireland Conference earlier this week was Mike Holman, Referral Institute Franchise owner and former Golf Professional. Mike entertained and educated us with the lessons to be learned from golf that can be applied to your referral marketing. In golf you generally have a specific target and play 9 or 18 holes accordingly. Unless you have a real vision for your business you cannot see & share the targets that will help you get there. Successful golf involves alignment, balance, timing and practice. It's the same in referral marketing. Your network needs to be aligned with what you do, the balance of giving and receiving needs to be right. In 'Are you stuck doing lots of networking with little reward?' yesterday I wrote about the relationship building that needs to be in place before the timing is right for profitable referrals.

Mike quoted Gary Player on the subject of practice when someone congratulated him on a lucky shot. Player agreed with the spectator and said "Yes and you know the more I practice the luckier I get!"

See this great video of Tiger Woods for someone who puts it all into practice on the golf course:

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Are you stuck doing lots of networking with little reward?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:03:00 +0000

At the Referral Institute UK & Ireland Conference yesterday Mike Macedonio spoke about people who spend a lot of time networking, but who are effectively invisible. He spoke about the VCP process (tm) which is the acronym Dr. Ivan Misner uses for Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.

Mike explained that you have to move through these stages in a referral relationship. This takes time, effort and commitment, but people often spend their time getting to meet lots & lots of people without ever getting to really know anyone. In practice profitability is achieved by going deep and establishing trusted relationships.

Visibility is only established when you know who someone is and what they do and they know the same about you.

Credibility is achieved when you each perceive each other to be reliable and worthy of confidence.

Profitability is when you are both consistently and proactively referring business to each other.

Does that mean that Visibility Networking is not important? No, you have to establish visibility first and that sort of networking will often be the place where you can introduce and find referrals for those in your Inner Network.

Read more about this in Mike's article 'Just Ask. Right? . . . No.'

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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A great example of follow up

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Making sure you follow up with the people you meet is the vital 2nd step in building business relationships. It's often the thing that gets forgotten as business cards pile up in your office! The people that do follow up stand out and some of those really make a great impression.

Several weeks ago I met someone who promised to send me some information. A few days later the information arrived in the post along with a copy of a book we had been discussing. That has prompted further interactions which are the building blocks of a profitable business relationship.

Are you in the habit of regular follow up?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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More on what networking is not

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I met someone recently through networking who asked for a One2One meeting to 'explore possible ways of working together'. I agreed to the meeting, but the experience was entirely different. The other person did not approach it as a mutual exchange amd presented his business for the entire time. Instead of a One2One it was more of a One@One!

Building trusted relationships is fundamental to getting results from business networking. These take time and include many exchanges of help, support and referrals. It is often within One on One or One2One meetings that these exchanges take place. Make sure you approach One2Ones in the right spirit of building relationships through mutual exchange.

See 'How to have a good One2One meeting' for more on the subject.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Networking is still not about selling

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

I have blogged before that networking is not selling yet I still meet people at networking events that are intent on selling to the room. I was at an event the other day where a couple of people were complaining that they had got clients the first couple of times they attended, but those sorts of people didn't come any more.

What a shock. They were probably put off by people selling to them all the time. As I often write networking is not about selling directly. If you build relationships in the right way then you don't have to sell. Your network does it for you!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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What is important in your World?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

In response to my post 'What you say is less important' Christopher Neufeld said "An excellent point, although it should take note that you need to get the other person to open up and start discussing what is important to both of you."

He is right about the need to engage with someone in order to start a conversation or get them to 'open up' as he put it. The things that really engage someone are those that are important in their world. I was speaking at a recent event for the owners of independent retail and catering businesses about generating business in the run up to Christmas. The brief was excellent because it summarised the main concerns they have right now which meant the speakers could address those immediately and engage from the start.

It's the same in a One on One or small group. To engage and start a conversation ask questions about the issues they have. It's those conversations that create the connections that start the networking process.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Which email grabbed my attention?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:24:00 +0000

I received an email earlier this week which included "I have an event coming up ... can you promote to to your network". As you might imagine I get many such requests. The same day another email arrived which included "I am just putting together next month's newsletter, do you have an event in November you would like us to promote?" I know that he has an event that he would like me to promote, but he has offered to do something for me first.

He understands that in business networking it is important to give first before you receive.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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How recently have you been in touch?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:38:00 +0000

I was involved in a discussion yesterday about the importance of the Christmas Trading period to many in the retail and leisure trades. With the year many of them have had it could well be make or break time. Now is the time to act to ensure they maximise their business in the next couple of months.

One thing that came up in the discussion was the goldmine that many of them are sitting on without realising it. The gold in this mine is their existing customers. Many businesses concentrate on looking for new customers all the time and forget those people they have already done business with.

Make sure you keep in regular contact with people you have already done business with. Give them some added value and they may well spend more with you. Do it consistently and they will be amongst your best sources of new business from the people they know and influence.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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A good beginning, middle & end

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +0000

In a One2One meeting last week the other person was describing an unsatisfactory experience at a networking event. I asked what had happened and she said "people turned up at the appointed time, refreshments were served, there was a speaker and then at the time it was supposed to finish people began drifting off".

I remember in English lessons at school being taught the importance of a good beginning, middle and end in writing a story. It struck me that my friend had described something with no satisfactory beginning or end. The importance of a good beginning and end applies to any good networking or other business experience.

In my experience people like to know what to expect at the start. They also like to know it will finish on time. They can then enjoy and make the most of it.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Habit one in blunt terms from Brad Burton

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:57:00 +0000

I wrote recently about applying Stephen Coveys 7 habits of highly successful people to business networking. Habit one is 'Be Proactive' or as Brad Burton puts it in the title of his new book, 'Get off your Arse!'.

I interviewed Brad for this article on The National Networker and asked him about the title amongst other things.

Brad shared this "I’m not one for controversy. Look the basics of any business is getting off your arse its that simple, no point in looking at an excel document, I encounter many Spreadsheet millionaires, each week its easy making money on spreadsheets I’ve done it 100’s of times. But unless you get off your arse that spreadsheet is never going to happen. And it’s an honest call to action to anyone in business of any size to look at the way you are doing things and begin to do things differently, not just for the sake of doing things differently...".

More from Brad in the full article at the National Networker here >>>.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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How can you be targeted with your networking?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:40:00 +0000

The question of who to network with and where came up a couple of times this week. Once in a One2One Meeting and also in some networking training I delivered to a group of Non Executive Directors and Consultants.

If your existing network is not generating enough word of mouth to achieve your business targets then joining the right networking groups could be a sensible option. If you are clear about your target market you can begin to be targeted with your networking. You can establish who else is likely to have access to and influence with them, find where they network and join the groups they belong to.

Take the time to get to know the members and the ways you can help - support, information & introductions. When asked present your proposition confidently & consistently. Things to include are your target market, the problems you solve and stories to illustrate your expertise. Over time as you build your reputation and relationships the support and help you provide gets reciprocated.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Beautiful Wife, Marvellous Mother, Loyal Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:54:00 +0000

Today I attended the funeral for Susie Sharman, the wife of my colleague Kim Sharman. It was a lovely celebration of Susie's life and her influence on family, friends and others she came into contact with.

She leaves the World a better place as a result of her life and will be buried tomorrow with these words on her headstone:

Beautiful Wife
Marvellous Mother
Loyal Friend

A great way to be remembered and you can read more at www.rosiebear.co.uk

Dave Clarke

Keeping track of your referrals 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:57:00 +0000

I wrote yesterday about the importance of keeping track of your referrals. You may think that is limited to direct contact of some sort, but I have also found that much of the business generated via the internet has its root in referrals and word of mouth. I was phoned a few weeks ago by someone interested in opening a new NRG Group in an area we don't cover. I asked how he had found us & he said Google. When we met I asked the question again. Whilst it was true that he had found our website via Google it was because someone we both know had suggested me to him. I was able then to thank the referral source and update him with what had happened.

Many of the people who found us via google also turn out to be via Word of Mouth. More than half of the searches that found our website include NRG suggesting someone recommended or referred them in the first place.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Keeping track of your referrals

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:57:00 +0000

I facilitated a networking breakfast on Friday 7 at the end one of the visiting members asked if she could say a few words. She shared that the NRG business networking group she belonged to had been a great factor in her success. Much of her business was a result of the relationships she had made in the group. It was not all, however, down to direct referrals. It was sometimes 2, 3, 4, 5 or even 6 steps removed, but by tracking back to the initial source she knew which relationships were critical to maintain & nurture.

If you don't keep track in this way you run the risk of upsetting your referral sources by not keeping them up to date with the results of the positive Word of Mouth they are generating for you. You could potentially miscalculate the return on investment on some of your activities and end up dropping some for the wrong reasons.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Are you clear about what you do and who for?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:59:00 +0000

After a seminar yesterday on building business with the effective use of offline & online networks I had a conversation with a couple of the attendees about clarity of message. During the seminar there was general agreement that the more specific you can be about proposition the better. If people know exactly what you do and who for it is much easier to find referrals for you. One person mentioned someone they knew, liked and trusted but found it too difficult to find opportunities because they positioned themselves too generally and for any business whatever the size.

It is much better to be a specialist than a generalist. It is also much better to have a specific target market or market sector. Being a generalist for everyone is a very crowded space. The following image helped people to focus on this:

If you do not consider yourself to have a specific market sector then at least try to position yourself as a specialist. And if you really are a generalist at least try and define a market sector. That could be for example by business type, size, geography or a particular problem that you solve.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Who should you invite along to your networking group?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Over lunch yesterday I was chatting with some colleagues about inviting guests to a networking group we belong to. One name was mentioned and someone said "No, all he will do is see it as a selling opportunity and give everyone the hard sell".

We then had a discussion about who would be right and someone summed it up nicely "I will invite the people who always look to add value first in any interaction. That's always a good sign that they understand the importance of building relationships first".

She was absolutely right. It's the people who give value first who will receive huge value in the long term.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Faster relationship building with Social Networks

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clarke) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:40:00 +0000

In 'Can you accelerate trust?' I wrote about the process of building trust in business networking. The question of the time it takes came up again today in an NRG seminar on building business with the effective use of offline & online networks.

It takes time and regular interaction to build relationships as this graphic illustrates:

The old tools we had - address book, phone, mail and various face to face interactions have been supplemented by email and now social media and social networks.

That can help to make it all much quicker!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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