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People Hate to Network… Not!string(34) "People Hate to Network… Not!"

June 11, 2012
Book, Business Networking and Sex, Networking, Statistics / Data, Survey 1

I was recently contacted by a reporter from a major U.S. national newspaper who said:

“I was wondering if you might be able to point me in the direction of some research that says that many people don’t like networking?  I see that concept cited all over the web, but I can’t find anyone who has actually conducted a survey or done some sort of study to back it up.”

I sent her the chart in this blog, which comes from the research I did for the book: Business Networking And Sex, (not what you think).   She was very surprised by these results.  She said that she had always heard that people didn’t like to network and so she assumed it was true. 

 

As you can see in the graph, over 57% of the respondents were comfortable or loved to network!  Only 37% or just somewhat comfortable networking and less than 6% were uncomfortable or did not like networking.  This is substantially different than the impression the news reporter had about the process.

I think there may be two reasons why she may have believed that most people don’t like to network. 

  1. The “proximity effect.”  People tend to take on some of the beliefs of people that they hang out with.  Newspaper writers ‘tend’ to be around other writers and editors.  They generally do not hang out with sales people and entrepreneurs.  However, it is the small business person that is out there selling and networking.  The writer is writing about people she doesn’t tend to be with all the time and may get a point of view about networking from other people – not entrepreneurs.
  2. The “I’m better at this than others effect.” One of the things we learned in doing the research for this book was that most people think “they” are better at networking than “other” people.  This tends to create a belief that other people may not like it because they surely are awkward and poor at it (more to come on a future blog about this topic).

The bottom line is that the majority of business people do like to network or are somewhat comfortable networking.  It is a powerful way to generate business and it sure is a whole lot more interesting than cold-calling!

How about you – do you hate to network, love to network, or something in between???

Women Are the New Menstring(21) "Women Are the New Men"

May 31, 2012
BNI, Building Relationships, Business, Business Networking and Sex, Connections, Entrepreneurial Enterprise, Gender, Global Business, Introducing Yourself, Ivan Misner, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Relationships, Statistics / Data, Video Blog 12

 

I was recently interviewed by Bill Moller on the “First Business” news show about men and women in business. 

The host said that “women are the new men.”  It’s an odd statement, I know, but I promise that if you take a mere three minutes out of your day to watch this video clip of the interview, you’ll understand what he means by this and you might not think it’s such an odd statement after all.

I came to the conclusions I talk about in this interview based on many recent statistics and findings by esteemed business publications and I think it’s a really interesting and noteworthy topic.  What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree? Disagree? . . . I’d love to hear your input so, by all means, please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Business Networking & Sex: Survey Says . . . Time Spent Networkingstring(71) "Business Networking & Sex: Survey Says . . . Time Spent Networking"

May 17, 2012
, Author, Book, Business, Business Networking and Sex, Global Business, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Online Networking, Statistics / Data, Success, Survey, Video Blog 7

In this short video, I share a portion of the results from the survey of 12,000 businesspeople on which my most recent book, Business Networking and Sex: Not What You Think, is based.   The results I discuss here indicate that there is a very powerful, direct linear correlation between the time spent networking and business success.

You’ll also hear some colorful comments in the video relating to the book and my co-authors (e.g., “Frank, you’re a bad, bad boy . . .” ;-)).

After watching the video, please leave a comment explaining whether you feel the indication of the statistics is true or lacking based on your personal networking experience.

Business Networking and Sex: Survey Says . . . Transactional vs. Relationalstring(75) "Business Networking and Sex: Survey Says . . . Transactional vs. Relational"

April 26, 2012
Author, Book, Building Relationships, Business, Business Networking and Sex, Connections, Credibility, Gender, Networking, Profitability, Statistics / Data, Survey, VCP Process, Video Blog, Visibility

In this short video, I share a portion of the results from the survey of 12,000 businesspeople on which my most recent book, Business Networking and Sex: Not What You Think, is based.   The results I discuss here indicate that men and women act differently when it comes to the VCP Process®, transactions, and relationships.

Based on your experience, would you say these results jive with what you’ve found to be true in the networking world?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section–I’d love to hear them!

Business Networking and Sex: Survey Says . . . Networking Skillsstring(64) "Business Networking and Sex: Survey Says . . . Networking Skills"

April 12, 2012
Book, Business Networking and Sex, Educational Resources, Networking, Statistics / Data, Survey, Video Blog 1

In this short video, I discuss the five ways people learn to network, based on the results of the worldwide survey on which Business Networking and Sex is based.  The results clearly show that there is a vast difference between how men and women learn to network.

As I say at the end of the video . . . to all the men out there, please don’t shoot the messenger.  The survey data is what the survey data is. 😉

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