Read analysis, reviews and comment.
Then have your say.
Networking - a business owners tale
by Heather Townsend, Author of The Financial Times Guide To Business Networking on 2 February 2012
What’s your goal when you go networking? Is it a positive goal which will help you target, focus and engage with the people you are meeting – whether in real life or online?
I recently heard one business owner’s first attempts at setting goals to make is networking more focused. Like many of us, he felt uncomfortable networking – so set himself a goal to make sure that he went and got some value out of the event.
His goal was to gain 15 business cards. A little while later, he realised that he may as well have just put 15 business cards in the bin, and saved himself the time he had wasted going out to the event.
So, next time he went networking, he changed his goal to ‘give out 15 business cards’. A little while later, he realised that this new goal was not much better than the first and he may as well have put 15 business cards in the bin, and saved himself the time he had wasted going out to the event.
So, he put his thinking cap on, and read some blog posts on networking, and realised that he needed to follow up if he was to gain any business via networking.
So, next time he went networking, he once again targeted himself to give out 15 business cards – and to follow up with an e-mail to each person.
A little while later, he realised that he may as well have saved himself the time and effort of going out networking and sending the follow up e-mails to all fifteen people, as he STILL didn’t get anything from his networking attempts.
And then the penny dropped, as he realised…
1. He needed to be focused and targeted about who and where he networked with – networking is not a numbers game.
2. Following up after networking also needs to be targeted and is the start of the process to build up a relationship – not the start of a sales process.
Does any of this sound familiar?
If you want further information, use our online form to get in touch.
Ben @ MyTownDirect on 6 February 2012
Respond to this comment
It is worth forming a short introductory statement so you can respond to the "what do you do?" question but always end it with a question of your own and always look to get others talking more. Learn to recognise the sorts of responses that are positive signs and who the time-wasters might be. Remember you are not there to make new friends but to make new busineess contacts who might become friends down the line. As Heather quite rightly says, make the conversations count, and do it by listening. This is great for the shy and nervous because you can just ask some questions and let the responder to the hard work.
Jonathan Russell on 6 February 2012
Respond to this comment
Many people confuse having lots of business cards or lots of connections on LinkedIN as networking. Then they wonder why it's not terribly effective.
Networking is about amplification, gearing, leverage (whichever takes your fancy). It's about you to the power of X.
So, I know one person but that one person knows 20 people and those twenty people each know another 20 people. So simply by knowing one person I have access (via people who know and trust each other to)hundreds or thousands more.
Now imagine you know 10 people...
So that's a network. It enables you easy and trusted access to people, skills, services, countries etc you could take a lifetime to reach on your own.
The trusted bit is really, really important too. We tend to take calls or meetings or place business with people we know and trust. The next best thing is people our friends, colleagues and peers trust.
The network then is like a living organism. It tends to grow as people "know" and connect with more people.
Seems like common sense - right?
The skill then (and this is where most people fall down) is that they confuse a network with their contacts. That means they're only talking to the people they are directly connected to and not using those people to reach the wider audience of the network.
LinkedIN does this really well by pointing out first, second and third level contacts.
So what you really want to do is develop a proposition you can take your first level contacts. First you "sell" to them but then you have to find a way to enable your first level contacts to amplify your proposition and recommend you to their contacts(your second level) and so on.
So a friend of a friend is what networking is about...not simply a friend.
Just having lots of connections is pure vanity. If you can't leverage to give you access beyond your first level contacts...you're wasting your time.
Here's a practical example:
Just yesterday I was in the City with two chaps who were inordinately successful. Senior "grandee" types. They structure huge deals for multi-nationals, they deal only at CEO level and don't "get out of bed" for much under £500M. They met me because someone they trust recommended me. A meeting with people like that would have been virtually impossible had I not had someone I knew to introduce me. Now those two people are keen to introduce me into their network and that really is something. I have skills and expertise they need and they have others in their network who need them too.
If I was simply "selling" to my first level contacts...that's where I'd stay. By asking my first level contacts reach their contacts - my second level.. I can punch well above my weight.
That, in my view is networking!
Owen Ashby on 2 February 2012
Respond to this comment
I completely agree that most people are good at having 'contacts' but not a network and never take it beyond that first level.
Only the other day I had somebody say to me 'I have 500 contacts on LinkedIn - that must be a record in this company'. He was so proud. My question back was, 500 contacts are great but what have you done with them? He hadn't even got his first level proposition sorted and certainly had not sold to most of them.
And yet there are people who may only have 50 contacts but they are a true network - and they work that network brilliantly and then get to those 2nd and 3rd levels more easily.
As with all things in life, it's not quantity but quality that really matters!
Samantha Davies@hwca on 2 February 2012
Respond to this comment
Heather Townsend on 5 February 2012
Respond to this comment
All fields marked with * are required