Effortless Networking

Here’s a comment I got recently:

“I took a full time job and am not involved with networking anymore.”

I was so struck by this comment, that I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Here’s what I was wondering about:

1. What does this person understands “networking” to be?
2. Why does having a full time job make “networking” unimportant or unnecessary for this person?

I’d love to hear your comments about this.

In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the topic.

For most people, the activity known as “business networking” is really an opportunity to go out “prospecting”. In other words, these people attend business mixers and other networking events to look for prospects (people to whom they can sell).

That’s prospecting. Prospecting is very useful — it’s just that it’s not the same as networking.

For other people, “business networking” is a way to meet people who can help them find prospects. In other words, the focus is on building a “leads/referral engine” to get new prospects.

That would explain the attitude “no longer doing direct sales, so no longer interested in networking”.

So is this the only use for business networking?

Not for me!

• I have used business networking to find jobs in the past.
• Networking has helped me discover publicity opportunities for my business. (I used these to generate well qualified leads.)
• I have made good friends through this process as well. (Many of these people later recommended me to others, told me about opportunities, and given me valuable advice.)

And this is just a short list…

My impression is that most people limit themselves to just getting leads and referrals, when it comes to business networking.

I wonder why that is?

I recently had an intriguing conversation with Antony Vila, founder of Contact25.

This is a company that is focused on helping people automate and simplify the networking process. Their philosophy:

Why spend time going to long winded networking events when you can meet 15 new contacts in an hour and a half?

I wanted to share the highlights of our conversation, because I think there’s something here for everyone (which is unusual):

Sri: Why did you create this product — what’s the story behind it? And how does it help event organizers?

Antony: We have created an online software solution to help events organisers to run and promote speed networking events.

Originally it was created to help us run streamlined speed networking events ourselves but it was always designed with a view to helping others.

The speed networking concept has been around for a while now, but many organisers who attempt it come across the same problems:
- How do we manage the logistics of the event?
- How do we promote it?
- And once it’s finished, how do we measure its effectiveness?

We have created a solution which lets the events organiser get on with promoting the event while we have automated all the tedious administration elements.

This includes an online CRM to help manage prospects and customers, with batch html emailing to both groups.

We have an e-commerce facility to take payments for all the events upfront so there’s no chasing cheque after the event.

For the event itself, we have a dynamic table planning solution which maximises the number of ‘new’ meetings at every event. This means that on average over 90% of the time our contacts are matched up with people they have not met at the events before.

This is a real selling point for regular networkers who are frustrated with meeting the same contacts time and time again.

Sri: You mentioned that this product could be used within large companies to improve internal communications. Can you say more about this? How might this work?

Antony: One of the major pitfalls of growth is the inevitable reduction in quality communications.

Time an again when employees of large organisations are asked what could be improved they come back with the answer ‘communication’.

Speed networking is a very fair way of levelling out natural imbalances in large organisations.

By having regular speed networking sessions with a rotational system, (over time) everybody meets with everybody else for 5 minutes.

This means that all employees can feel that their needs and concerns are given a fair amount of time with the boss (and perhaps their boss’s boss).

It also gives employees a holistic view of the organisations so they can understand their place within it and how their actions affect the success of the business.

There are many ways in which organisations attempt to improve communications but there aren’t many that could be so easily integrated into the working day.

We’re pushing for organisations to hold speed networking sessions one a week / once a fortnight for just 1 hour to improve the way they communicate.

We believe that this will help every employee to have a finger on the pulse of the company so they can drive it forward in a cohesive direction.

Sri: Since satisfied clients are great referral sources, business owners are obviously interested in encouraging this. I wonder if your product could be used to encourage client referrals? What do you think?

Antony: Definitely!

We’ve got a product called DIY speed networking which is aimed at any group who just want to get started with speed networking.

Companies could use it to invite their contacts together and create synergies and new business opportunities for their clients.

Sri: Is there anything else you want to add?

Antony: If there are any readers who are interested in finding out more about speed networking or running their own events (either in conjunction with their own business or stand alone) please get in touch by visiting www.contact25.com or emailing avila@contact25.com.

My sister-in-law in India is starting a business. Last week she asked me if I could help her find some books with some technical information.

I replied saying that I had a client (based in the US) who is an expert consultant on the topic. Would she be interested in talking with him instead?

Well, here’s the email reply I got:

“Thanks Didi….YOU ROCK!!

I’ve written to Tom, asking him how much he would charge for a consultation on this project. Am now waiting for him to get back to me.

Hopefully I can get this ball rolling soon. Am very excited. Hope he can help!”

And you know, this email made my day! (I know, simple things make me happy.)

So why am I sharing this story with YOU?

To make two points:

1. First, this is an example of business networking in real life — outside business mixers and networking groups.

   You have no control over when such opportunities will show you. But when they show up, and you can act on it, it really makes a difference to all the people involved.

   My sister-in-law is clearly excited, my client Tom will be happy to get new business I’m sure, and as I already mentioned, it made my day to connect these 2 people.

   Also, even though I didn’t gain anything tangible in this interaction, I gained something very important (besides personal satisfaction): goodwill — with 2 people.

2. Second, I was able to refer my sister-in-law to Tom because I have a good understanding of exactly what he does.

   I know it sounds obvious — but think of how many times someone has told you what they do, and you have no idea what it means.

   For instance, many years ago at a business mixer, a gentleman told me that he runs a “full service print shop”. When I heard this I wondered, what does “full” include, and does that mean there “partial” service places? And why would a business offer partial services?

   My impression is that most people in such situations don’t ask for clarification (although if you did, that would be an great way to start a worthwhile networking conversation).

   My point is, if you’re not clear about what a person really does, how can you recognize an opportunity to refer business to him or her?

So I’m curious to know: what has been your experience in this area?

“[My biggest networking challenge is] starting! I think not having a good ice breaker outside of “Hello, my name is…” gets pretty boring and routine. Also how do I make an impression that leads to a sincere building professional relationship?”

Last week I wrote about what it takes to easily start conversations with anyone.

This week let’s consider how to make an initial impression that paves the way to building a long-term, sincere professional relationship.

Here’s the “secret”:

• first discover a shared interest
• then agree that you do in fact have this common interest.

After all, what would be the foundation or basis for the relationship, if you didn’t have any common interests?

So when you think you might want to build a strong professional relationship with someone, start by considering these questions:

1. Why do you want to build a professional relationship with this person?
2. Why might the other person want to build a relationship with you?
3. How did you come to this conclusion? Based on what?

Your responses to these questions will help you engage in a productive conversation with this person on this topic.

You’ll be able to better explain to the other person why you’re interested in building a long-term working relationship. This helps the other person get a clearer sense of where you’re coming from.

You’ll also be able to talk about why the other person may want to consider such a relationship as well. Who knows? You might even bring up things he or she had not considered.

And if you are sincere about what you’re saying, your sincerity will naturally come through.

Try it. See how it works out for you.

(FYI, more on this topic is covered in module 3 of the Effortless Networking home-study program. To find out how to get a complimentary copy of this program, click here.)