networking groups Archives - Dr. Ivan Misner®

7Jul2022

Be a Motivational Speaker for Your Businessstring(43) "Be a Motivational Speaker for Your Business"

July 7, 2022

motivational speaker, networking groups, networking partner(s), networking success, Unique Selling Proposition BNI, Business, Networking

When you watch or listen to a motivational speaker such as Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy or John Maxwell, can you feel the passion flowing through their words and actions? Think back to a speaker’s presentation at a convention or seminar you attended. Was there an energetic buzz in the room afterward? Were the other attendees excited about what they heard? Usually the answer is YES. However, do you know why?

The hidden element behind a motivational speaker is passion. They have an uncanny ability to share passion through their words, which helps listeners remember their message.

When it comes to business networking success, our personal challenge is to have an extraordinary message that captures the essence of our business and highlights our unique selling proposition (USP). Our USP sets us apart from the competition and helps us get more referrals from our networking groups.

Tapping Into Your Business Passion

Are your referral partners excited about your business? If you’re not sure, ask yourself: Are YOU excited about what you do? Are you passionate about what you do? Hopefully, your answer is yes – you are excited and passionate about your business. You need to convey that feeling to your potential customers and clients, and to your networking partners.

Increasing the excitement about your business can be easy. You can capitalize on your passion and spotlight your uniqueness by answering these questions from your heart rather than your head.

WHY are you excited about your business?
As a professional, what do you do that makes you look forward to going to work each day?
How does your work fulfill you?
What element of your work do you enjoy the most ? Why?
What can you say about yourself or your business that your competition cannot say?

Your answers will help you tap into your passion and incorporate it into your daily message about your work. I believe that successful people have passion about what they do, and it shows in how they describe their business. They are working in their flame and not in their wax.

Public Speaking Tips

After you identify your passion about what you do and develop your USP, it’s time to put them together for an effective business presentation. Whether it is a one-minute presentation, ten minutes, or more, these tips can help make it more comfortable and less stressful when speaking in public.

Be prepared. Have reference notes about what you plan to say and review them ahead of time. Avoid reading them word-for-word.
Be specific. Focus on just one or two parts of your business each time you speak on it. By being specific, you can talk about something you know well and will feel more at ease.
Use visual aids. PowerPoint slides can help you stay on track. In-person handouts assure that your audience takes home important information.
Remember that you are the expert. Nobody knows your business as well as you do. Speak confidently about your experience and your expertise.
Be creative. If talking to a large group makes you uncomfortable, try starting with a Q&A session and share your information in response to the questions.
Tell stories about your business. Make sure to relive the story, don’t just retell it. Relive the story as though you were experiencing it again; this will give you the same kind of excitement you had when it happened and will draw the audience in to the experience with you.

There is no right or wrong way to present to an audience. I recommend that you do what works best for you and for your business in a way that is comfortable for you.

Sharing Your Passion

Many business professionals offer to speak free of charge to service clubs or business organizations as a way of sharing their expertise while getting exposure for themselves and their business. If your product or service is conducive to this approach, tell the members of your personal network that you offer this service, and accept referrals for speaking engagements. Ask your referral partners to share your information with the program chairs of organizations to which they belong, such as chambers of commerce, Rotary, Kiwanis, or the local group of their industry professionals.

REMEMBER: These speaking engagements are NOT a sales pitch. You are there to provide expert information and education to the group and its members.

If you prepare well, incorporate the public speaking tips, and do a good job at these presentations by sharing your passion for your work, you may get many more speaking offers and a lot of new business. I know of a BNI member who took this advice and built her speaking resume by sharing information at chambers of commerce, professional organizations, civic and community groups, high schools, and with active-duty military personnel. Those connections led to being featured on local television, radio, and teaching a class at a community college, all of which helped her business grow.

Remember, nothing great in life has ever been accomplished without passion. When you are passionate about the solutions you provide for your customers and clients, and you share that excitement with your network and your referral partners, they become motivated to help you. When you become a motivational speaker for your business, great things can happen.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How do you share your passion for what you do?

9Jun2022

What to Do If You Get a Bad Referralstring(36) "What to Do If You Get a Bad Referral"

June 9, 2022

Ivan Misner

Bad Referral, networking groups, Reputations, tracking system BNI, Networking, Referrals

Today’s professionals know that building a network of strong relationships is important to receive good referrals for their business. However, sometimes we receive a referral that is just not that good. It may be that the referral needed something outside our scope of services or products. Sometimes they don’t need anything at all, or they weren’t expecting your call and don’t want to talk with you.

What does one do after receiving a bad referral? My experience is that clear, open, honest, and direct communication that is professional and polite is the only way to solve the problem. It is impossible to get to the heart of the situation without a conversation.

Three Tips for Dealing with a Bad Referral

Always speak up when you get a bad referral and talk to the person who gave it to you. Tell them tactfully, but tell them! I’ve talked to many people who say, “Oh, I can’t tell someone that the referral they gave me was no good.”

My reply is, “You can’t afford not to tell them.” Be direct without apologies. Simply say, “This is what happened. I wanted to come to you before I just assumed it was a bad referral,” and then listen to what they have to say. You can listen to an example here.
Be positive and make sure they know it was the referral they gave that was bad, and not their effort. Let them know that you appreciate them thinking of you and your business. The best way to ensure that you don’t get bad referrals is to teach people what you consider to be a good referral. This is different for each person and varies widely among professions. You cannot assume that everyone in your networking group knows what kind of referral you are seeking. You need to be specific and clear about what constitutes a good referral for you and educate your referral partners.
If that doesn’t work, go to your networking group’s membership committee. Don’t talk to other people in the group. It is extremely unhelpful when people talk about each other and not to each other first. Share your concerns with the membership committee. They may have received other complaints about that member giving bad referrals. A good membership committee of a chapter will have a conversation with them and take appropriate action as needed.

Bonus Tip: Track Your Referrals

An effective way to make sure you get good referrals is to monitor the referrals you receive. This can be helpful in several ways. It shows you how often you get referrals, who your referral sources are, the quality of the referral, the status of it, and how much money successfully closed referrals bring to your business. If you don’t know this information today, you may want to consider implementing a tracking system for monitoring your future networking efforts. Over the years, I have observed that people who use systems generate more business.

Referrals and Reputations

When you give a business referral, you give a little bit of your reputation away. So when you are giving referrals, make sure to give good ones. Talk to the potential customer about your networking partner and how they can possibly help them. Ask permission to have your friend call them before you share their phone number. If you give someone a bad referral it can seriously hurt your reputation in your networking group and in the business community. Of course, when you give a good referral, it helps your reputation.

For years I have said that one of the strengths of a BNI® networking group is that most of the members are friends. One of the potential weaknesses of a BNI group is that most of the members are friends. Accountability is key.

If you find yourself in a situation of getting a bad referral, follow the first tip above and talk to the member who gave that referral. You never know what might come out of that conversation.

18May2015

7 Tips for Networking Newbiesstring(29) "7 Tips for Networking Newbies"

May 18, 2015

Ivan Misner

networking groups, networking tips, New Networkers Networking, Networking Prep 3

Photo courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For three decades, I have been traveling the globe teaching business owners and entrepreneurs how to effectively grow their business through referral marketing. During the course of my travels over the years, I’ve found that time and time again, those who are new to networking are hungry for information on how to get started. This makes complete sense because, after all, as crucial as networking is to business success, it still isn’t being taught in colleges and universities.

I think the main questions most new networkers have relate to trying to figure out what kind of networking group or organization is right for them. It can be overwhelming because networking is a big commitment if you’re going to be successful at it and you certainly don’t want to join a group that isn’t a good fit for you. So, if you’re new to networking and you’re in limbo about what groups you should or shouldn’t invest your time and effort with, I’ve outlined seven tips below that will help you narrow down the direction in which you should head.

1) Strong Contact Networks are groups that meet weekly for the primary purpose of exchanging referrals. Their meetings tend to be well structured and include open networking, short presentations by everyone, more detailed presentations by one or two members, and time devoted solely to exchanging business referrals.

2) Community service clubs give you an opportunity to put something back into the community where you do business while making valuable contacts and receiving some good PR to boot. They can be a good source of word-of-mouth business.

3) Your goal in tapping into professional associations is to join organizations that contain your potential clients or target markets.

4) Women’s business organizations have been instrumental in shaping the nature of contemporary networking organizations. Many groups are established as bona fide networking organizations; the members are there to network, and everything else is secondary.

5) Don’t let chance decide where you’re going to spend your time and effort. If you have associates, partners, or employees, consider their participation when deciding which groups each of you will target.

6) When evaluating groups, find out when and where they meet, then schedule those you want to visit during the next two to six weeks.

7) For each group, consider these issues: How long has the group been in existence? What is the basic philosophy of the organization? How many members does it have? What is the quality of the membership? How does the cost compare with other forms of marketing? How often does it meet? How do other members feel about the group? What is your overall impression of the group?

Whether you’re just getting started in the networking world or you’re a seasoned networker, I’d love to get your feedback on any additional tips which you’ve found to be particularly effective. Please share your thoughts in the comment forum below; thanks in advance for your participation!

11May2015

Is Networking Worth It If You Work for Someone Else?string(52) "Is Networking Worth It If You Work for Someone Else?"

May 11, 2015

Ivan Misner

BNI, Networking Benefits, networking groups, Networking ROI, Referrals, Self Employment, Working for a Company BNI, Marketing/Sales, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Referrals, Sales

Photo courtesy of patpitchaya at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Whether you’re self employed or you work for someone else, it is definitely worth your time to start looking for networking groups that can refer you new business. If you work for someone, take steps to persuade your employer that you will get business by working with these groups. I’d like to share with you a true story which demonstrates how this can greatly benefit you.

I met a bank manager several years ago who worked hard at persuading his supervisor that participation in a BNI® chapter would yield substantial results for his branch. The supervisor reluctantly agreed to let him join on a trial basis. The manager began getting referrals soon after joining. After several months, another member gave him a particularly good referral–a man who was disgruntled with the level of service at his current bank. The manager decided to visit the man at his company. The man told the bank manager that he felt he was not getting personal service from his bank. The manager assured him that his bank prided itself on service. He gave the man his personal mobile and home phone numbers and told him that if there were a problem he could be reached any time of day, at home or at work. The man thanked him for coming to his office and told him he would get back to him.

Two days later, at 9:00 a.m., the man was standing at the bank door with several savings and checkbooks in hand. The manager met him at the door and thanked him for coming to the branch. The man said he was impressed with the way he was handled by the manager and that he had decided to transfer his accounts to the manager’s bank. To the astonishment of the bank manager, the new customer handed over checking, savings, and money-market accounts totaling over $950,000! After everything was completed, the man told the manager how glad he was to be referred to him by their mutual friend.

I first heard this story when my office (BNI Headquarters) started getting phone calls from every branch manager in Southern California who worked for that bank. Each of them wanted information about local chapters of BNI. When the bank manager who got the $950,000 referral told his supervisor where he got the referral, the supervisor (Remember him? The reluctant one?) called all his other branch managers and told them to join a local chapter of their own within the next two weeks.

If you work for someone else, the lesson here is to persuade your supervisor. Not long ago, I spoke to an individual who wanted to join a networking group but was told by his boss that the company wouldn’t pay for it. This savvy salesman asked his boss, “If I front the money myself and get two referrals that turn into sales within the next thirty days, would the company pay for it then?” The boss said, “Sure, if you come in with two sales, I’ll see to it that the company pays for the membership.” Well, guess what? This salesman, thus highly motivated, closed three sales and was working on four others at the end of the first thirty days. He told me that his boss “gladly payed for the original membership, and recently paid to renew it.” Whether you are self-employed or work for someone else, start looking for groups that refer you new business.

Do you have any stories about lucrative referrals you’ve received through joining a networking group? If so, I’d love to them–please share in the comment forum below. Thanks!

23Mar2015

Networking and Friendsstring(22) "Networking and Friends"

March 23, 2015

Ivan Misner

friendship, goals, Leadership, networking groups, networking meetings, purpose, relationships, strategy, Success, system Building Relationships, Connections, Goals, Networking, Networking Prep, Purpose, Relationships, Strategy, System 6

One of the strengths of a good networking group is that most of the members become friends. And ironically, one of the weaknesses is that most of the members become friends. It’s both a strength and a weakness. Accountability becomes key in running a good network because friends don’t like to hold friends accountable. But, people who truly understand networking are not going to have a problem with system and structure.

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It can be dangerously easy for a networking group that meets regularly to become a coffee talk session with little or no networking going on. That’s exactly what happens when a group loses sight of their purpose, focus, system, and structure–or never has any of those things to begin with.

People begin to make up their own agendas and the networking loses focus. When you lose focus, the meetings become social. Networking should be about business. Of course there has to be a social aspect, but it’s really about business, commitment, and accountability. People can be like water and tend to take the path of least resistance. Without the proper framework in which to operate, the agenda becomes the topic of the day and it ends up being whatever the person running the group thinks the meeting should be about. That sort of inconsistency over time is a problem for a networking group.

Even if you have a good, strong leader, at some point the person’s life will change or maybe he or she will simply get burned out. The problem starts if there is no one else to teach. Teaching is a leaky-bucket process. You start with a whole bucket of information. When that information is taught to someone else, some of that information leaks out and the people being taught only get that limited version of the information. In turn, when that person teaches someone else, the material continues to get watered down based on their understanding and ability to articulate the material.

By the time you are in the third or fourth generation of people passing along the information, you only have about half a bucket remaining. When the bucket of information gets low, people start putting in their own stuff. Very rarely does the material improve over time with this process.

In short, it is a beautiful thing when people in a networking group become close friends–the key to making sure it doesn’t detract from the goals of building each other’s business through networking, however, is to ensure that no matter what type of networking group you’re in the group has a strong sense of purpose, a solid structure, and that each member is committed to carrying out the systems for networking which are already in place.

So, how does your networking group maintain its focus and its commitment to its systematic networking practices (e.g., careful selection of leadership, effective training programs, etc.)? I’d love to hear your thoughts–please share them in the comment forum below. Thanks so much for your participation!

10Jul2014

Networking: Men, Women, and Diversitystring(37) "Networking: Men, Women, and Diversity"

In this video (click on the graphic above to access the video), I speak with Charlie Lawson, networking expert and National Director of BNI® UK & Ireland, to unfold the differences between men and women in networking. While men tend to be more transactional in the way they network, women are more relational and understanding these differences can really be an advantage when it comes to achieving success from your networking efforts.

During a survey of 12,000 people, it was found that those who are more relational gain more business and are overall more proficient networkers. However, just because women are more likely to generate new business through referrals, this doesn’t mean that only they should have a place in networking groups. In order to have the most successful networking group possible, there needs to be a great amount of diversity. It’s ideal to have a blend of different people because that diversity is an important aspect of successful networking.

The more diverse a group is, the more connected it becomes. When networking groups become more connected, deeper relationships are formed, ultimately leading to more referrals and greater success.

Do you or your networking group have any good tactics for seeking out a diverse array of professionals with whom to network? If so, please share them in the comment forum below. If not, make it your goal this week to come up with some ways to do so–you have nothing to lose and a whole lot of untapped potential for new referrals to gain!

20May2013

Seeking Engagement: A Critical Step for Networking Groupsstring(57) "Seeking Engagement: A Critical Step for Networking Groups"

Engagement involves a promise and an action. In order to achieve success in your group of networking relationships, you and your relationships must promise to support one another and then take the actions necessary to fulfill that promise.

There are many ways that you can become engaged. Have you taken the time to regularly meet with the people in your network? Have you taken the time to educate them regularly on the key features of your business so that your products or services will be top of mind in the event they meet someone with a need for what you supply? Have you taken the time to become educated on the key features of your networking relationships’ businesses so that you can do the same?

The higher the number of people in your network who are engaged in these activities, the more likely it is that the entire group will be generating more referrals. The reason for this is a shared vision of success and a shared implementation of that vision.

Another way to be actively engaged and educated about each others’ businesses is to do regular and consistent meetings. Over and over, I see that business owners who have regular one-to-one meetings with their business networking relationships tend to both give AND get more referrals.

Lastly, are you focusing on your “elevator pitch”? The best way to ensure your referral sources are going to remember what you do is to focus on communicating your business to them by breaking it down into laser-specific elements. Sharp-shoot your pitch, don’t shotgun it. In each of your regular one-to-one meetings, talk about one key element, product, or benefit of what you do.

According to Psychology Today, research has found that people who are “actively engaged” in a business environment are “43% more productive” than those who are not. Furthermore, they state that engagement includes “regular dialogue, quality of working relationships, perceptions of ethos and values of the organization, and recognition.” There’s research behind my recommending reciprocal engagement between you and your referral partners. In fact, it’s critical to your success–and theirs.

This week, think about new ways in which you can support your networking partners in order to promote engagement within your networking group. I’d love to hear what ideas you come up with so please leave your thoughts in the comment forum below. Thanks!

6May2013

Does Your Networking Group Put Enough Emphasis on Quality?string(58) "Does Your Networking Group Put Enough Emphasis on Quality?"

In order for a networking group to be successful and thus ensure optimum networking results for each of its members, the first thing the group needs to do is ensure they are embracing quality.

Embracing quality means being very selective about who you bring into the group. The only people you should be inviting into the group are quality business professionals who have a positive, supportive attitude and are good at what they do. If an individual does not meet these criteria, they should not be permitted into the group, period.

Effective networking is dependent on the quality of the relationships are developed within any given networking group, therefore it should go without saying that embracing quality also means building deep relationships among all referral partners in order to generate more referrals. If your network is a mile wide and an inch deep, you won’t be getting the referrals you expect.

Another aspect of embracing quality is ensuring quality participation which means there absolutely must be accountability within the group. One of the greatest strengths of a good network is that many of the members are friends. One of the biggest weaknesses, however, is that . . . well . . . many of the members are friends; friends don’t generally like to hold other friends accountable. You need to remember, as do your fellow networking group members, that the purpose of your group is not to be a friendship club–your purpose is to be a referral group and in order to generate quality referrals, all members of the group must hold each other accountable for maintaining quality participation.

If you expect the best from your fellow referral partners, you’ll get it. Likewise, if you expect less than the best from them, you’re guaranteed to get that as well. Why accept mediocrity when excellence is an option? Accountability within a group will help all involved to achieve excellence.

The last part of embracing quality is applying the Givers Gain® philosophy within the networking group (i.e., when each member focuses on helping their fellow members achieve goals, gain referrals, and grow business, their fellow members will reciprocate by helping them back in the same way). The more members who live this philosophy (particularly as it relates to referrals), the more successful a group will be.

How does your networking group currently excel at embracing quality? Which aspects of embracing quality could your group stand to improve upon? Please share your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll be more than happy to offer suggested solutions to any challenges your group may be having with putting enough emphasis on quality. Thanks!

8Apr2013

Should Your Target Market Dictate the Networking Groups You Join?string(65) "Should Your Target Market Dictate the Networking Groups You Join?"

April 8, 2013

Ivan Misner

networking groups, target market, Word of Mouth Marketing/Sales, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics 7

The truth is, if you choose a networking group that focuses entirely on your target market, chances are you’ll be in a group of people who are a lot like you. Sounds like a good thing, you say? Well, it’s not. A group that consists of a whole lot of people like you tends to hang out together in other settings and is likely to have a lot of the same contacts as you. This limits the size of your network, and the diversity as well. It’s good to have some people like you in your group, of course, but it’s important to have people who are not like you as well. Never assume that someone who is in a totally different industry or social group or market from you can’t possibly know anybody you’d like to meet and do business with. You never know who they know.

Even if you share a target market with many others in the group, you can’t really tell from the roster or by collecting business cards at the first meeting how effective they’ll be as referral sources. You have to be in the group a while before you begin to know who they know and how likely they are to pass along good referrals. Much of this information comes up in open networking before and after the meeting: “Tell me about some of your favorite clients. Who do you like working with and why? What kind of work do you like to do best?” It takes weeks, sometimes months, to develop the kinds of relationships that bear fruit–and until then, you never know who they know.

Groups that are built primarily on a social model tend to be homogenous. It’s simple human nature for people to cluster in groups according to age, education, income, profession, race, neighborhood, social status, religion, and so forth. Hanging out with similar people makes it easier to carry on conversations, share similar experiences, gossip, and compare notes. It does not tend to expose one to new experiences or new points of view, and it especially does not provide many opportunities to open new frontiers in business or marketing.

I’ve run across many people over the years who want to form business-to-business networks. They think, I’m after this market, so therefore I need people just like me all around me. So who do they get? They get people who are just like themselves. This includes people in businesses that are much like their own and who may not want to share their databases with others. It includes some people who have the same kinds of contacts, sometimes even the exact same individuals. Forming a group with such similar people for the purpose of generating referrals is usually a big mistake. (Telling people it’s a mistake is a little like telling a boxer, “Lean into the punch!” It’s counterintuitive. Most people don’t believe it until you explain why.)

Never assume that someone who is in a totally different industry or social group or market from you can’t possibly know anybody you’d like to meet and do business with. You never know who they know.

Networks tend to form naturally among clusters of people who are like each other and who know each other to varying degrees. Your friends tend to be friends with one another. However, if you want a powerful network, you obviously want different contacts and different kinds of contacts. Diversity is key in a referral group, and not only in the classic sense of diversity–race, gender, religion, ethnicity–but diversity in types of businesses. We’ve run into people who didn’t want to join a referral network because there was a painting contractor in the group who came to the meeting wearing overalls. But in fact, painting contractors often have great contacts. You never know whose houses they are painting or what kind of connections they’ve made.

A diverse set of personal contacts enables you to include connectors or linchpins in your network–people who have overlapping interests or contacts and can easily and naturally link your group with other, different clusters of people. These people, according to Wayne Baker in his book Achieving Success through Social Capital” are the gateways. They create shortcuts across ‘clumps’ of people. The strongest networking groups are those that are diverse in many ways; these are the ones that tend to have the most linchpins. A master networker strives to become a linchpin between as many networks as possible.

You never know who someone knows. Please share with me any experience that you’ve had with this concept.

21Mar2013

Keeping the “Fun” in the Fundamentalsstring(49) "Keeping the “Fun” in the Fundamentals"

March 21, 2013

Ivan Misner

Fun, Fundamentals, networking groups, Passion, Success Business, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Strategy, Success, Video Blog 35

When it comes to business, having fun is something that’s almost never talked about–it’s almost like people think fun and business are two completely unrelated, and mutually exclusive things. However, I don’t share that opinion at all. I definitely think it’s important to have fun in business; in fact, over time I’ve learned that having fun is something businesses and networking groups alike need to do in order to truly enjoy lasting success.

In this video, I talk about how important it is to keep the “fun” in the fundamentals. To sum it up, if you don’t have fun, it’s easy to lose track of why you are where you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing–it’s easy to lose your excitement. Once you lose your excitement for something, your passion for it is gone and it’s very hard to be successful at anything if you’re not passionate about it. This is why it’s so important to have a good time in whatever you’re doing–business, networking, or otherwise.

After watching the video, please share some of the ways you (when it comes to your business and/or networking) or your networking group (when it comes to your networking meetings) keep the fun in the fundamentals. In the spirit of fun, I’ll review all the comments next Friday (3/29) and I’ll send a surprise gift to the ten people whose tactics for keeping the fun in the fundamentals were the most striking, impressive, and creative. Thanks and I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

28Jan2013

Knowledge Networking vs. Referral Networkingstring(44) "Knowledge Networking vs. Referral Networking"

Most people are involved in at least two types of formal networking groups. The first is intraprofessional networking, or “Knowledge Networking,” as Megatrends author John Naisbitt calls it. Knowledge Networks foster self-help, information exchange, improved productivity and work life, and shared resources, according to Naisbitt, who cited networking as one of the ten megatrends impacting our society.

The second type of networking is interprofessional networking: multidisciplinary professionals and occupational types who network to increase each other’s business. In fact, the primary purpose of most interprofessional networking groups is to increase one another’s business through referrals.

In good interprofessional networking, participants get either the majority of their business or their best business through referrals. Organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees, and BNI® are typical groups in this category. Different groups offer different strengths and weaknesses in helping to generate word-of-mouth business and it’s important to look closely at the makeup and structure of the various organizations that you might join before selecting those that best fit your needs.

If you haven’t had much success in business organizations in the past, don’t let that get in the way of doing what needs to be done to build your business through word of mouth today. The best way to begin the process of building a referral-based business is in a group or groups of other business professionals. The only alternative is to meet one person at a time, which inevitably means you’re going to be working harder, not smarter.

The only people who are going to make referrals for you consistently are people who know you and trust you: your friends, associates, customers, patients, clients, peers, and family members. Strangers are not going to consistently give you business. You need to start spending time with the right people in structured professional environments.

If you’re interested in building your business through referral networking, here are four tips to help you do it efficiently:

Join several different types of networking groups and diversify your word-of-mouth activities.
Develop your company into a Hub Firm, a firm that other companies rely on to coordinate efforts in providing effective services.
Don’t be a cave dweller. Get out and meet other business professionals in the myriad of business organizations which exist for that purpose.
The only people who are going to make referrals for you consistently are people who know you and trust you. You need to start spending time with the right people in structured professional environments.

Do you have any additional tips or tactics which you’ve found particularly effective in building a referral-based business? What has worked best for you? I would love to hear your insights so please share your thoughts in the comment forum below. Thanks!

12Nov2012

Have a Positive and Supportive Attitudestring(39) "Have a Positive and Supportive Attitude"

The First Law of Notable Networking: Have a Positive and Supportive Attitude

Good networking involves providing a positive and supportive environment to other business people. Remember this: Notable Networking is predicated upon the concept that Givers Gain®.

If you freely give business to others, they will give business to you. This concept is based on the age-old notion that “what goes around, comes around.” If I give business to you, you’ll give business to me, and we will both do better as a result. Networking is like a savings account: if you keep investing wisely, you can draw upon it when you need it. One enthusiastic networker who belongs to a formal networking group told me, “The longer I’m in the group, the better I get at networking and the more referrals I get. In addition, it seems that the more referrals I get, the higher the percentage that I close! By developing long-term relationships, I am gaining the trust of the other members, which makes it easier to receive and close the referrals that are passed to me.”

A positive, supportive attitude also includes the way you present yourself to other people. Everyone likes to do business with an enthusiastic optimist. If you join a networking group, remain focused on the reason you’re there. I see far too many people go to networks and get caught up in the irrelevant nitpicking: “The food’s no good,” “The speaker was mediocre,” “This room’s not very nice,” and so on.

With the quibblers, I share this anecdote: An airline attendant once responded to a passenger’s complaints about the quality of his dinner by asking him, “When you go to a French restaurant, do you usually order an airline ticket?” The same rationale applies to networking meetings. The quality of the food and the speaker should be secondary to the quality of the contacts you are making. Don’t lose sight of your purpose.

It’s not Net-Sit or Net-Eat, it’s Net-WORK! If you want your network to work for you, then you have to work your network in a positive and supportive manner.

In many ways, the First Law of Notable Networking involves more than attitude; it’s a way of life and a good way to do business. When you constantly and consciously keep other people in your mind, they will do the same for you.

I’ll be posting about the Second and Third Laws of Notable Networking over the next couple of weeks so be sure to check back if you want to learn even more about how to succeed as a networker.

*Can you think of a person in your network who exemplifies the First Law of Notable Networking? If so, take this opportunity to carry out the First Law yourself and showing them your support by recognizing that person in the comments section below. Tell us who they are and what they do that makes them such a shining example of this First Law of Notable Networking.

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