Effortless Networking

Have you ever wondered what to offer in return, when someone in your network helps you out? Or how to differentiate yourself from others by giving back in a “better” way?

In this season of giving gifts, this seems like a good topic to review.

So let me start by asking you some questions.

Who are those people in your personal life to whom you enjoy “giving”? Why is this enjoyable for *you*? How do you know *what* to give them? And *when* do you give to these people, i.e. on special occasions only, when you get something from them, when you find something they’ll like or appreciate, when you know they need a boost, etc.?

Obviously, you don’t have this kind of relationship with every friend or family member. However, there are probably occasions when you do have to get gifts for friends and family members in your “outer circle”.

In these cases, how do you choose something that the recipient will truly appreciate? Do you ask the person directly? Do you ask a mutual friend or family member for ideas and suggestions? Something else? What makes you choose the way you do?

My point is this: networking is not a transaction. It’s a means to achieving what you want by leveraging your relationships with others.

If you approach networking as a transaction, always thinking about “what do I have to give in order to get X”, it can never be a fully satisfying nor rewarding experience.

On the other hand, if you consider your professional contacts like you do the people in your personal circle, how to reciprocate or what to offer becomes an easier question to answer.

Because then, how you reciprocate and what you offer each person is based on the kind of relationship you have with them — it depends on how well you know them, about what they want, like, find useful and appreciate.

And when it comes to expressing your heartfelt gratitude to someone when they help you out in some manner, you know how best to thank them, because you know them as a person and understand what would be meaningful and appropriate for them.

So, let’s take a look at your professional circle.

Who are your professional contacts to whom you enjoy giving? Are there people to whom you often forward information, just because you think it would be useful for their business? Or think of them right away whenever you meet a person who might be a good client for them? What allows you to do this? What makes it an enjoyable activity for you?

And if there’s no one in your list of professional contacts for whom you do this now, why do you suppose this is?

Pause for a moment and consider your answers to these questions.

What did you learn about how you give, whether personally or professionally? And more importantly, how can you use what you have learned to build professional relationships that are easy and fun for you? What do you need to know about your professional contacts, so that giving to them becomes both a natural and enjoyable activity for you?

Do you have enough to work with?

If you want additional resources, here are a couple:

1. For specifics on how to cultivate strong, mutually beneficial professional relationships, check out module 3 of the Effortless Networking home-study program.
2. For an in-depth assessment of your situation and personalized recommendations, click here).

I hope 2006 is a year of joyful giving (and receiving) for you. Happy New Year!
– Sri

You’ve probably heard that “knowledge is power”. Well, you know what? That’s not true!

“Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end.”

– Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

In this age of information and technology, it’s easy to acquire knowledge. Information about practically anything is easily available and accessible.

And yet, in spite of all the available information online and offline about business networking (and indeed, all kinds of topics), all the how-to manuals, the self-help books, the workshops, seminars and other programs telling us what to do and how to do it, the gap between “knowing” and “doing” remains.

Can you relate to this?

For instance, you have probably read the self-paced program that you downloaded when you first subscribed to Effortless Networking. You probably read my articles on a fairly regular basis. You probably also read other books and articles, and attend workshops or seminars on networking and related topics.

At this point, you probably *know* a lot about what to do and what not to do, to network successfully.

So, are you *using* everything you’ve learned so far? Are you consistently doing what you know you should?

Most people struggle with this (yes, me too at times!).

So this week, instead of giving you even more “information”, let me offer you a couple of different types of resources to help you with the application aspect.

1. The first resource is a set of questions for you to reflect on:

• Under what circumstances are you able to quickly and easily apply what you learn or know? What allows you to do this?
• In what situations are you NOT able to use and apply your knowledge and skills consistently and successfully? What prevents you from doing so?
• What did you learn from answering these questions? And how will you use this information?

If you’re not sure of your answers, pay attention to what you do and don’t do, when it comes to business networking, over the next few weeks. See what you discover.

If knowledge is potential power, what prevents you from tapping into that potential?

2. The second is a brand new service that I’ll be offering starting in January 2006.

This resource is an open Q&A forum via conference call, just for subscribers. And it’s FREE!

These purpose of these calls is to help you *apply* what you already know (and when necessary, help you pin-point what’s holding you back from using the information you already have).

There will be no pre-assigned topic for the call. Instead, you get to bring whatever question is on your mind, or whatever challenges and obstacles you’re facing regarding business networking.

So I hope you’ll join me and others at these forums. And better yet, I hope you’ll actively use these calls to identify and remove whatever roadblock is preventing you from successfully applying the wealth of knowledge that I’m sure you already have.

To be notified of these calls and to participate, be sure to subscribe to Effortless Networking. There is no fee to subscribe.

Till next week,
– Sri

Do you know what the best way is, to follow up with a lead or a referral?

Before answering the question, let’s start with a distinction, because leads and referrals are two different things.

A “referral” is someone who has found out about you and your business through a friend or associate (from someone they trust). The referrer typically knows you and/or has first-hand knowledge of your products or services, and enthusiastically tells others about you because they like (or love!) what you have to offer.

For example, when you recommend your favorite restaurant to a friend, you’re giving the restaurant a “referral”. Or when you urge your sister to contact your financial advisor for help and advice on the best way to manage her money, and you go on at length about how this financial advisor has helped *you*, you’re giving your financial advisor a “referral”.

A “lead” is a name and contact information you get from any source; such as, business cards you collect at your trade show booth, or names people give of others who may be interested in what you have to offer. A “lead” knows little about you (if anything), and certainly hasn’t had anyone rave to them about you.

So, for example, if you give your financial advisor your sister’s name and contact information, and never tell your sister that you did so, or how good this financial advisor is, or that she should call the financial advisor even if he doesn’t contact her, you’re essentially giving your financial advisor a “lead”.

As a business owner, which one would you prefer: a lead or a referral? And are you currently mistaking one for the other?

So back to the original question: given the difference between leads and referrals, the way you follow up with each will obviously be different.

Following up with a “lead” is like making a cold call, since the “lead” doesn’t really know you. For more information on cold calls and how to approach “strangers”, check out my favorite sales book, “The Accidental Salesperson”. Part 3 of this book covers this information. Here’s the link to it.

Following up with a “referral” is different. Ideally, your “referral” will call *you*!

Within the last month, two different “referrals” called me, wanting to work with me.

The first person was referred to me by a past client. By the time this person called me, she was ready to work with me. She already knew from my past client how I worked, the kinds of results she could expect to get from working with me, what *she* needed to do to get the most out of our work together, how much I charged, etc. So literally, all I had to do was ask this person when she wanted to start!

The second person was referred to me by a business owner, with whom I’ve been talking about collaborating on certain types of projects. Although we haven’t yet established our business partnership, we have spent a lot of time understanding each other businesses and ideal client profiles. So when the second referral called me, he was almost ready to work with me. By the end of our conversation, once I had answered all his questions and addressed all his concerns, he too scheduled an appointment to start working with me.

So… what do you think allowed these “referrals” to come to me? And how can YOU cultivate relationships with people so they send you good quality “referrals” (not “leads”) like these?

If you can’t find the answer in these examples, or want more ideas or information on how to cultivate and encourage your referral sources, here’s a book that can help: “Business By Referral”. Here’s the link to that.

My point is this: if you can understand and experience for yourself *exactly* what it takes to give good quality referrals to others, you can use this first-hand knowledge and information to help and make it easy for others to give *you* good quality referrals.

Till next time,
– Sri

A colleague recently commented on how expensive networking was becoming for her. It’s true — networking for business can quickly become costly, both in terms of time and money, if you limit your “networking” to business mixers only. Or if you’re not focused.

I know, because I’ve been there — on both counts!

During my first year in business, I spent a lot of time and money attending all kinds of events. And I was coming home from these events disappointed and empty-handed, not to mention exhausted.

I told myself I was checking out all the different groups, to see which one I wanted to attend on a regular basis.

But in retrospect, I realized that this wasn’t fully true. For instance, was I really clear about how I would choose which events to attend regularly? On what would I base this decision?

I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was figuring it out as I went along. It worked out OK in the end — but essentially, I took the long route to my destination.

Is there another way?

Well, yes. These days, I use the following questions to make my choices and decisions:

1. Whom do I want to meet? Why do I want to meet these people? In other words, am I only going to be looking for prospective clients/customers when I attend networking events? Or might I have other objectives as well (like looking for referral sources)? This is important, since my potential clients may attend one kind of event and my potential referral sources another.
2. Assuming I do meet the kinds of people I want to, what exactly do I want to from them? An agreement to talk with me further at a later time, in person or otherwise? An agreement to send me information that I need for my business? An agreement to accept and review some information from me? Something else? This allows me to focus my conversations.
3. If I’m unable to attend organized events to meet the people I want to, how else might I be able to meet them? Whom do I know, who can help me figure this out, if I don’t have any ideas myself?

I rarely attend networking “events” these days, primarily due to life with our 2-year old. (My time, if it ever was mine, is definitely no longer mine!)

Instead, my networking these days is integrated into everything I do, and happens during the course of a normal day. Which means that I save time, money and energy.

And when I do attend networking events, I always have a clear agenda as to what I want to accomplish. Sometimes, I just want to socialize, after having worked alone all day! No matter what my agenda is, simply being clear about what it is helps me make the most of my resources.

By the way, if you want more guidance on this or related topic, click here.