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Five
Habits of Highly Effective Networkers
Even
though business networking can quickly put you in front of how new
prospects, help you create life-long strategic alliances, get more
referrals and simply find people you really enjoy hanging out with,
majority of professionals have no clue how to make their networking
count.
They
attend the wrong meetings, use boring self-introductions, can’t
recognize a good prospect if one stepped on their toe, don't know how to
elicit interest in their service, give no value in conversations with
those they meet, gobble down their rubber chicken, rush out and never
follow-up…
Does
this sound familiar? It certainly did for me when I was starting out.
Instead of STRATEGICALLY SELECTING and LEVERAGING a couple of groups
that could get me lots of local visibility I hopped around from one
group to another getting little or no results.
I was
frustrated, attending many of those meetings was no longer fun and
exciting, and each time I collected a few more ‘useless’ business cards
I was becoming more discouraged and jaded. I knew I needed to do
something differently but I didn’t know how.
Fortunately, with time I discovered how to be a better networker, and
that virtually anyone can easily master this business building strategy.
As a
matter of fact, by practicing a few of the following tips you can turn
your face to face promotional efforts into a powerful business building
tool.
So
here are Marketing Mentor’s Five Habits of Highly Effective Networkers:
Habit
#1 - BE PREPARED
I
often joke that every new business owner should be jailed for 30 days –
so that they have time to think and develop a business strategy. You
must take time to plan your networking activities or you’ll quickly find
yourself overwhelmed and frustrated. Here are at least three things you
need to address ahead of time:
• Know
what you are looking for. It’s like going fishing; you must know what
fish you want to catch before you choose a fishing spot. Conversely, you
must know who your ideal prospects, how to recognize them and what is
the best 'bait' to attract them.
•
Develop a magnetic ABC (Audio Business Card). It blows me away that
smart business people spend days and weeks designing their printed
business cards, but when asked what they do they quickly degenerate into
a blubbering, brainless baboon!
Don’t
bother going anywhere until you develop an attention getting Audio
Business Card that clearly communicates who you work with, the problems
you solve and the benefits of working with you.
• Find
the right group (for you). Even the best marketing message won’t matter
one bit if you are hanging out with a wrong crowd. Identify groups that
are most likely to attract either your ideal clients or those who
already have access to your ideal clients.
Habit
#2 - BE INTERESTED
If
you’ve networked once or twice before you inevitably had the displeasure
of running into that self-centered, never-stops-yapping-about-themselves
bore! What we don’t realize is that we often are THAT BORE!
Hey,
it's only natural that we all get excited about our business. But
frankly, what we do is boring to others. So stop trying to be
interesting and become more INTERESTED. Talk less and listen a lot more!
Dr.
Stephen Covey said it best: “Seek to understand before you seek to be
understood”.
Fact
is, people never do business with you just because they understand what
you do. They do business with you because they FEEL UNDERSTOOD!
Habit
#3 - HAVE MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS
Learn
to engage people in conversations that will leave them energized and
excited.
• Ask
provoking questions that cause the other person to shift how they
think/look at life or business.
•
Share a success tip that worked for you or a little known resource that
will save them time/money.
• Make
a connection and open the door...Facilitate an introduction to someone
who you think can become a valuable contact or a potential client.
Most
people are tired of exchanging trivialities and welcome this fresh
approach. Amazingly, such attitude of ‘being of service’ will set you
apart from others and land you more new business than any sales pitch
you could ever develop.
Habit
#4 - MAKE FRIENDS NOT SALES
Asking
a few questions about your business doesn’t make someone a prospect or a
buyer! Pushy, self-centered requests for business and referrals
expressed too early in the conversation come across as rude. No one
likes to be sold so people will run away from you. Instead, make it your
goal to make new friends. Meet and connect with other like-minded
individuals you like as a person and focus on developing long-tem
business relationships with them.
Habit
#5 - FOLLOW UP
In the
five years of running my coaching and consulting business, I can
remember fewer than ten people who promised to connect with me after I
met them and actually did. Sadly, majority of professionals get so busy
collecting new business cards they forget to stay in touch with people
they already met.
Develop follow-up tools – reports, articles, audio CDs – that describe
your product or service in an engaging, informative way. Use greeting
cards, postcards, publish an ezine or a one-page printed monthly
newsletter.
Whatever you do find a way to systematically follow-up to maximize your
networking ROI (return on investment).
The author, Adam Urbanski, teaches service professionals and business
owners how to develop marketing strategies that increase sales and
profits. His website offers more how-to articles and free tips to create
a winning marketing action plan at
http://www.themarketingmentors.com
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