Are You Networking Too Much and Getting Too Little?

Several months ago I had someone I had introduced to my local Chamber of Commerce call and ask if I would meet him to discuss networking. It seems that he could not understand why he was getting so little for his efforts. I am always happy to help someone and agreed to meet with him.

When we got together he shared that he was really discouraged with networking. He said that although he belonged to 6 Chambers of Commerce, attended about 8 networking groups and gave referrals that he never seemed to get any referrals in return. He felt that he was getting way too little for his efforts.

While he was making an attempt, he really missed the point. He was attempting to network way too much. All that he was accomplishing was attending events but was not building any relationships.

The key to networking is in the relationship building. All he was doing was spending a lot of time attending functions and collecting business cards. I explained to him that he needed to belong to only one or two Chambers and get involved in them in some way. Instead of just attending all the networking groups, he needed to become an active member of one or two of those as well. Perhaps one Chamber group and one non-Chamber group.

Not only was he not building any solid relationships but even though he worked to give referrals, everyone in the various groups knew that he was attending all these other functions so they also saw him as a taker and not a giver. The members of the various groups figured that they would only get a very occasional referral as he didn't have enough to go around or that he was giving the same lead to several in the same business category.

Is this happening to you? Hopefully not but if you are going to more than a couple of various groups a week you may be suffering from the same problem. Just cut back, get involved and build those relationships.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

If you like this article, Follow me on Twitter.

Quantity or Quality

A few months ago I was introduced to Twitter. I find it very intriguing and am convinced if used to build relationships, it can be a great business building tool. I got pretty "gung ho" about it and decided to grow my follower list as quickly as possible. In the process I also felt obligated to follow everyone and ended up auto-following so that I could keep up. While my number of followers was small compared to many, I was none the less proud of my accomplishment.

All of that changed this week when I read about Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) un-following 106,000 Twitter followers. When I went back and looked at my follower list, I was appalled at what I found. Through the auto-following, I was following many that I would never have followed if I had taken some time in checking out profiles, profile pictures and the content of what they were tweeting. More importantly, I realized that I had violated my own belief that the key to networking is building strong relationships not just being out there passing out business cards to everyone. Or, in this case just following everyone

I have begun my own purge of followers. How far I will go, I am not sure. I think the numbers really need to be based on what is right for you. However, this week instead of following 100's I have only followed a couple. I am trying to be more thoughtful in my process by being sure to send a personal note of welcome as well as trying to engage the individual. I am back to working on building a relationship in which I can bring value to the other person, remembering that it is about them and not me.

Thanks Robert for your bold move and for helping me to remember that it is all about quality and not quantity.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

If you like this article, Follow me on Twitter.

Ladies, We Need Your Help

While I am addressing this post to all you ladies, it can equally apply to men.

Ladies, I want you to know that most the guys you meet at a networking event are not "dirty old men". We are not staring at you but trying to read that small print used on your name tag. So I would offer a few suggestions that I have picked up over the years regarding using name tags.

• Use large print. Make it easy for everyone to read.
• Use a good clear font with easy to read colors.
• Consider using your first name only. This allows plenty of room for large print.
• Wear on the ride side so it is easy to see when shaking hands.

A couple of other tips you may want to consider which will make it easy for someone you meet to ask you what you do are to leave off your company name and your occupation. I have found that doing this is a great way to really get a conversation started especially on a good note. If you use your occupation and/or company and they have had a bad experience in that area you will either get an earful or they will not talk to you at all.

So make it easy for people to just know you name and for them to ask you the question that you want them to ask, "What do you do"?

-------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

If you like this article, Follow me on Twitter.

Are You Keeping In Touch?

Most people I meet at various networking events do a good job of following up immediately after meeting you at an event. The sad part is, very few follow-up after that if they do not connect right away or make a sale. The whole premise of networking events today is to meet people for the purpose of building relationships not just to make a sale. And, building a relationship quite often can only happen after a period of time.

I really had this driven home recently when I had someone purchase a health insurance plan from me. While my business is almost all from referrals, I have occasionally in the past purchased some Internet leads to fill in gaps in my schedule. Well, this sale came from a lead I had purchased about 3 years ago. While the individual had some interest back then they were not really a good prospect at that time.

Since late 2002, I have sent out a monthly newsletter to friends, clients and prospects as well as to anyone that has found my website and subscribed through there. So this individual for the last three years has been receiving the newsletter. And when the time was right, she called me to handle things for her. I would not have gotten the call if it wasn't for having kept in touch over a period of time.

This happens all the time because I keep in touch on a regular basis. If you do not have a way of staying in touch, I would suggest that you find a way to do so. You are losing out on sales if you are not.

In a future post, I will go into some detail of how I have set up my newsletter and how it has helped me gain business as well as helped me in the search engines.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

If you like this article, Follow me on Twitter.