Working a Network

by The Sales Guy on October 22, 2009 No Comment

I have been asked several times over the last couple of weeks how to get the most out of a networking organization membership and figured it was time to get the word out so to speak about how I think you can benefit the most from that membership.

How I network and begin building relationships is not the same as how others suggest you do it…not by a long shot! I have seen and heard some people spout nonsense about not getting any return on your time investment in an organization for at least 6 months. If it takes that long then you are doing something drastically wrong in my opinion.

So how do I do it?

It’s simple (I said simple not easy):

  1. Attend every single function/event the organization puts together no matter how inconvenient.
    1. Meet at least 10 new people at each event you attend. Please note that I said “new” people, talking to the same people over and over again is not what you are there for…build relationships on your own time not there.
    2. Spend no more than 5 minutes with each person…refer to my post on netWORK vs. netBS to learn what to say and how to say it.
    3. Within 3 hours of meeting that person send them an email saying how nice it was to meet them at such and such event and ask them to have a cup of coffee sometime soon (within a week) to learn more about what they do.
    4. Go to coffee and ask them questions for about 30 minutes to find out exactly what they do and who they do it for. Then answer those same questions to them about what you do and who you do it for. Actively listen to everything they say about themselves and their business…make sure you don’t interrupt and don’t take over the conversation and talk about you until it is your turn to do so.
    5. That same day drop a handwritten thank you letter in the mail thanking them for their time and expressing the hope that you can refer them lots of business.
    6. Scour your contact list and find 3-5 people you know that might be interested in what your new networking buddy is selling or who sells something that has a similar target market. At least once a week for the next month find a way to bring together your new networking buddy and the contacts you thought of for him/her. You can either email them both and introduce each other so they can take it from there or you can schedule a cup of coffee with them both and introduce them in person and help the conversation get started or you can just email the new networking buddy the contact info and tell them to call/email so and so. Be very careful here…you might want to contact the person you know and ask permission to introduce them to your new network buddy!
    7. Get in touch with your network buddy at least once a week for a couple of months to solidify the relationship and to keep your name/business in the front of their mind. Vary the method of contact between email, phone call and greeting card to make sure they get the message and remember who you are.
    8. Find an excuse at least once a month to have a cup of coffee with them and don’t mention your business at all unless they bring it up…make it all about them and what they do and how they are doing. By doing this you become a friend that is concerned about them and not just a business acquaintance.
    9. The referrals and the persistent contact will make them feel obligated to try and help you out since you have been such a big help to them and you will earn a level of trust so they will begin actually thinking about you when talking to prospects, customers and friends. All of this will begin the flow of referrals in your direction.
    10. Contact every member of that organization.
      1. Send an individual email or call them to introduce yourself as a new member of such and such organization. Spread this out over a couple of week period of time so you are not inundated and overwhelmed.
      2. In the email let them know that you are a new member and that you would like to sit down with them over a cup of coffee to learn more about what they do.
      3. Find out if they will be going to any of the upcoming events the organization is hosting and if so try to schedule your get together for immediately before or after that get together. This will make it convenient for them which will endear you to them.
      4. During this initial get together talk about them and their business mainly and minimize how much time is spent on you and your business. The more time you let them talk the more they will like you and the more they will allow you to tell them who you are and what you do at a later time.
      5. At this point you can begin following the steps mentioned above and start sending them referrals and following up with them.

Is this time consuming? YES

Is this a get rich quick scenario? NO

Will this produce a steady stream of leads that are high quality? YES

Will this method get you lots of people who are out there selling your product for you over time? YES

When you develop relationships with people in an organization that you are very visible in and committed to it will get noticed and you will build a sizable book of business from it.

The SalesGuy

Choosing the Right Networking Group

by The Sales Guy on October 16, 2009 No Comment

There are so many different networking groups out there these days that a business owner or a salesperson sometimes doesn’t know where to go. Networking has been proven to be a very effective tool in building a business that everybody wants to get involved…the question is where?

We all have limited time and money and of course want to get the most bang for the buck so what kind of networking organization do we join? How do we determine what organization will give us the most return for the time, money and effort needed to be an active member?

Well let’s start out by discussing what I consider to be the three major types of networking groups:

Open Networking

In an open networking group such as a Chamber of Commerce you are one of many people in your industry that are members and can join this type of organization. Depending on the organization there are usually 2 to 8 events per month at various locations and with various formats. There are usually after hours “mixers” where you get together at a restaurant and have drinks and appetizers and get to informally chat with other members and/or guests of the group.  You will also find meetings that have formal agenda’s focusing on specific topics with guest speakers and some groups also have meetings where you spend the meeting focused on the people at the table you are sitting at and get to hear a more detailed version of their elevator speech. In most meetings that have formal agendas you are usually given 30 seconds to state your name, your business and a quick elevator speech.  There are usually no limitations to the number or type of other networking group you are allowed to join and there are no requirements on how often you attend, the number of leads you pass and/or the number of guests you bring.

Closed Networking

In a closed networking group you are the only person from your industry allowed to be a member of that group, the group usually meets once a week at the same time, day and location and they usually have a formalized agenda that is followed every meeting.  Closed groups usually have some sort of attendance requirement, a minimum number of referrals/leads passed and a requirement to bring a guest to the meeting periodically. There are also usually limitations to the type of other networking organization you are a member of, in other words you usually are not allowed to be a member of two closed networking organizations at the same time. In most of these groups you are given 30 seconds per meeting for your elevator speech and periodically given the opportunity to talk for 10 minutes or so to provide a more in-depth picture of who you are and what you do.

Hybrid Networking

In a hybrid group you get to go to different kinds of meetings that include open network meetings and closed network meetings. You do not have to go to the same meeting each week and you don’t have to pass leads. Different meetings have different formats and they are at different times and locations. If you sign up to attend a particular meeting and you are the first one in your industry to sign up for that meeting no other member in the same industry is allowed to sign up for that particular meeting. When you attend the meeting you get 5 minutes to tell the other members about who you are and what you do and to ask for very specific leads you are looking for. Say for instance you are a landscaper and you want to get into the world of corporate landscaping at office parks at that meeting you could ask the other members if they know anybody that is a property manager, commercial real estate developer or commercial real estate agent. The next week you are looking for snow plow contracts for the upcoming winter so at that meeting you ask for contact information for people that are business owners that own the property their establishment sits on.

So which is best for you?

It depends. It depends on the type of business you are in, how much money you have to spend and how much time you have to invest. Personally I belong to two different open networking organizations and a hybrid organization because I have found that combination gives me the most bang for the buck so to speak. Admittedly I spend A LOT of time each week networking and building relationships with people I meet at all of the organizations I attend because in my business that has paid off tenfold better than any form of advertising that exists and better than the closed networking group I used to attend.

Will it be the same for you?

I don’t know for sure but let me ask you this; would your business improve if you had 10-15 new leads each and every week? Would that amount of leads be worth the investment of 8-10 hours a week of your time?

TheSalesGuy

NetWORK or NetBS?

by The Sales Guy on October 8, 2009 No Comment

Who do you hang around with at networking functions?

Do you find yourself spending time with people that are useful or useless?

Now hold on a second…nobody is completely useless but what I mean is very specific:

To me, somebody is “useful” at a networking function only if:

1. They are in the market for what I sell.

or

2. They know somebody who is in the market for what I sell.

or

3. They are somebody I have just met and I am trying to figure out if they are either a 1 or a 2.

That’s it…if they don’t fit into one of those 3 categories then they are useless to me at that moment in time.

You only have so much time at a networking function to meet as many people as you possibly can and to at least plant a see in their minds for further development. That is your job and your only job at a networking function…you are not there to socialize, drink, eat or stand around and hold up the wall.

Most networking events are roughly 90 minutes in length and at least a portion of that time is taken up by the sponsor of the event…which means that most of the time you have about 60 minutes to really work.

Do you find yourself talking to the same group of people every single time you go to a networking event?

Do you usually come away from an event thinking how much of a waste of time it was?

Are you secretly jealous of the guy you see at every single stinking networking event you go to and he is always talking to somebody new?

If you answered yes to any of the above then you need to either stop wasting your time and money by going to these things, realize that you are not really going to these events to drum up business and are just going to have some fun and relax or you gotta start working!

As most of you have heard by now the term is net-WORK not net-sit or net-eat or net-BS.

Set a goal of meeting 5 people at the next network event you go to and don’t stop talking to people until you DO!

You don’t have to spend 30 minutes talking to each person you meet…you should only really need about 5 minutes to get to know them enough that they will remember you and you will remember them so that when you call them 24-48 after the event and suggest sitting down to chat they will remember you and (hopefully) want to meet with you.

Ask 4-5 questions, listen (and I mean REALLY listen) for the answers, respond to their 4-5 questions AND THEN MOVE ON!!!!

More on this later…just remember that you are there to meet new people to bring in more business and make you more money PERIOD.

Until next time…

The SalesGuy

Networking 101 As I See It!

by The Sales Guy on August 12, 2009 1 Comment

So why do we network? Why do we go out and meet new people, spend time and money and effort talking, talking and more talking?

We network because when done properly and consistently business networking is more effective and time efficient than just about any other form of marketing or advertising.

So we network to make money right? So how do we effectively and efficiently meet as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time with the most amount of bang for your buck!

There are many different ideas out there about how to network some of them are pure crap and some of them are worth their weight in gold…the hard part is figuring out which is which so when you jump in to the networking arena you come out smelling like roses and not something else not quite so pleasant.

You ever heard the story that if you buy and hand out 1,000 business cards a month to literally everyone you meet or see that eventually you will be the best and most profitable networker in the world?

Or the story where all you have to do is send every person you meet a card on their birthday and they will never buy from anybody else for the rest of their lives and recommend you to everybody they meet?

Or the story about the salesman who religiously pays his annual membership to the local chamber but never attends a single event?

I’ll bet you can come up with a couple stories like this yourself right?

They are all crap!

Networking can be the hardest work you will ever do in your life but it is not difficult. The process of networking is simple but not always easy.

So how do we do it…how do we successfully meet people and build relationships with them and turn those relationships into profitable long lasting associations.

That is what we are here for…this is the reason for this blog to each our readers how to invest their networking time wisely and get the best out of it.

Until next time…

The SalesGuy

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