Networking

Hello again

I'm very grateful to Mark Byford for the following article which I've adapted from his blog on MySpace:


I'm going to use the term networking in the loosest possible sense here as I believe if you look at networking the way most people perceive it, you’ll see why most people give up on it.

It always intrigues me how people think it should just happen. Ask yourself this: if you go to work for somebody does the job just happen or do you work at the job to make it happen? The word work means ''to do'' so you might think that if you work you will get results. Well, be assured, if you don't, you will not even be in the running.

I belong to all sorts of networking groups both on and off-line; I attend every possible networking event that is ever put on, and my reckoning is that if you're in it, you can win it.


Let's cover seven basic networking rules before we get ahead of ourselves:


Rule 1) Know your products and your company inside out


Rule 2) Carry enough business cards for the entire event


Rule 3) Don't be ‘Billy no mates’! Get in there and talk to people


Rule 4) Look the part, dress up, smell great. People may like it


Rule 5) Always carry your samples


Rule 6) Listen to what others have to say and then tell them about you


Rule 7) Get their cards


Understand this above all else: everyone attends networking events for one reason – to get more business. Well, the problem with that is that people don’t like passing work on to strangers. That’s a simple fact, so here is what you need to do:

Go to the event, be it Chamber of Commerce, BNI, B4B, BRE, FSB or any other serious professional networking organisation, and just NETWORK! Don't try to sell anybody the idea or product – you can do all that in good time.

Meet them, greet them, talk to them, listen to them but most of all don't push what you have to say down their throats. Have a good time, enjoy the day and work the room, not spending much more than 3 minutes with any one person. Ask each of them if they have a business card in case you need to contact them in the future, and give them two of yours. They will often say ‘Oh, you gave me two cards by mistake’. Just say, ‘It's no mistake; the other is for a friend of yours that you may feel needs to speak to me’, and then just smile.

When you get back from the event the fun starts. Send everybody an email saying how great it was to meet them and how you’d like to get together and find out more about their business, so that when you’re out networking in future you can pass their details on to people you meet.

So you send the emails out. For those that don't reply, call them and ask them ‘Do I have the correct email address for you? Only I note I haven't received a reply from you’. They will then suddenly remember to reply. Now you have a book full of appointments to go and see people – maybe five to ten a week, every week, if not more.

When you meet them tell them how great it is to see them again and how you’re really looking forward to the meeting. Be relaxed, enjoy your time with them and make this a real one to one. Don't be pushy: some of the nicest people I have dealt with in the world are the best salesmen; they’re just not pushy. One of my closest friends now started as a cardboard box salesman who visited me to sort out my packaging requirements, we have been the best of friends ever since that day ten years ago.

The point many people miss is that people ‘buy’ people – the product or service comes second and the price only third...

Enjoy the next netWORKing event you attend – now you know what you’re doing!

Adapted from an article by Mark Byford
www.myspace.com/lairdmarkbyford

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS You can network like crazy, learn loads and secure your future at the eConfex Buy to Let Summit on 15-16 March. Read more right here!