Archive for the ‘Networking Groups’ Category

I Won’t Use Your Service. How Can I Refer You?

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

All last week I wrote about social media. Time for a change back to face to face networking for a few days.

I was meeting with someone last week who was thinking about joining a networking group, and she asked my advice. I knew the group well, and I said, “I don’t think it’s going to work for you. The people in that group aren’t going to need your services, and I think you’ll be frustrated.”

She very correctly called me on my statement and said, “But I thought the point was to work through them to their referrals, not make them clients.”

Of course I agree with her, but that wasn’t quite my point. As you network, you need to know your audience and your product or service. Some groups are made up of more savvy networkers than others. This group isn’t one of the savvy ones.

Some people can envision how they would refer someone, even if the service is something they will never use. For example, I personally have no use for someone who does corporate mediation. But I know the kinds of people who would need that service, and I can refer it.

Some people can’t make that leap. They are generally the smaller business owners who are new to the concept of business by referral. When they are still trying to get their message right to generate referrals and keep in mind easy to refer businesses, they aren’t quite able to get their heads around more complicated to refer businesses.

You need to keep this in mind when joining a networking group. Is your business something the members of the group will understand and use, even if they don’t use you? If so, you’ll have an easy time educating them on how to refer you. If not, you’ll have a bigger challenge.

Am I saying you shouldn’t join such a group? No, I’m just warning you that you’ll have to work harder than say, someone who sells gift baskets. Everyone can see how to refer that business. Everyone may not instantly see how to refer you.

That’s the “bad news.” The good news is that tomorrow I’m going to write about how you can educate anyone about how to refer your business, even if you fall into the “hard to refer” category.

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Networking: When the Magic Has Died

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

A friend of mine, Jason Alba of Jibber Jobber wrote an excellent post earlier this week on when to leave a networking group. His points were so good that I asked if I could reprint it here.

Take it away, Jason:

I’m not talking about when it’s time to leave a networking event, I’m talking about permanently leaving a group you are in.

A few years ago I networked in a Yahoo Group (an excellent place to network). This group was run by someone with a beautiful smile and a seemingly helpful persona, but I had a different experience than most.

My contributions to this Yahoo Group, with a lot of job seekers, were sincere and helpful. When someone asked a question that I could (or should) answer, I spent a fair amount of time constructing a response that was encouraging and had enough meat that the person would be able to move on.

At least half of my messages never made it to the group. They were flat out rejected by the moderator, who sometimes would construct her own response that had a lot of similarities to my response.

One time, she responded saying that it was HER group, not the Jason Alba group…. by this time I was just about done having all of my free help and thoughts slapped down.

I didn’t want to leave the group for many reasons. This was a large group that was very active and I got as much value as I put into the group (and I put a lot of value into the group). I struggled with leaving for months, and finally I did.

I left the group. I left the opportunity to be known, be helpful, keep my ear to the ground on issues, and get reactions to my ideas.

I was saddened to get to that point, but something unexpected happened.

When I left the group I became liberated. I was elated. Seriously, I was so happy to be out of the control of the group owner, and not have to worry about my contributions being slapped down more than 50% of the time.

No one really knows why I left… I STILL get emails from people that were on that group, wondering where I went. I do wish I could contribute to that group… but being free has been so liberating.

I know some of you go to network events, or network online in certain groups, where you feel quite unappreciated. Perhaps what you bring to the table is undervalued and you are essentially treated poorly (perhaps even abused).

Here’s my advice: leave.

Move on.

Leave the group.

Don’t stay for the others… they’ll eventually figure it out for themselves.

There are two reasons to participate in networking:

* To Give…. of your time, ideas, encouragement, etc.
* To Get…. moral support, ideas, encouragement, etc.

If there comes a time when the management of the group, or event, thinks that you are a threat, it’s better to go somewhere else and do what you do best than to stay there.

You’ll know when it’s time… when the stress weighs on you and you wonder why they keep doing things a certain way (which is wrong) and you keep getting slapped down… it is time to move on.

There were several things I really liked in his post.

1. Networking in a Yahoo Group. Yep, a great place to network.

2. Why we network. To give and to get. He’s completely right, and if a group stops supporting either of those goals, it’s time to leave.

By the way, Jason has a superb on-line contact management system aimed at job seekers. But it can be used by anyone who needs a good contact management system designed for networkers. Check it out for yourself.

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Events in the New Year

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

You’ve had a few weeks to get back from the holidays, get caught up and back in the mood to work. And network.

Now it’s time to get some events on the calendar. What events should you attend this year?

Obviously look at what you attended last year. Which ones were most effective? Which ones were not effective? Do you know why?

Look at who attended the events. Are they the kind of people you want to meet this year? Why or why not?

Review your message. What were you asking for last year? Did you get what you were asking for? Why or why not?

I’ll use myself as an example. There were seven events I attended regularly last year

*A networking breakfast at a nearby Women’s Business Center
*Three networking lunches: one Christian-based, one a meeting of attorneys and financial types and a general-attendance lunch
*Two evening open mixers
*My Chamber of Commerce mixers

The Women’s Business Center breakfast continues to be one of my best source for new prospects. It stays.

The attorney lunch meets a need to network with the types of people many of my contacts want to network with. It stays as a source of referrals for others.

The other two lunches were not effective for me, and I will only attend them if someone I know needs an introduction to the event.

One of the evening mixers was very effective last year. The others wasn’t, but with the addition of social media coaching to my services, I think a new message will make that event more productive. They both stay on my calendar.

The Chamber is always good. It stays.

See how it works? I’ve retained events, dropped events, and I’ve decided to experiment with a new message at one.

Once you have answers to those questions, it’s time to schedule the events you plan to keep. Get them on the calendar right now, for the entire year. That will minimize the chance of getting distracted and forgetting to go.

Leave room for new events. As you network this year, you may learn about new events to try. Make room for them on your calendar, and run them through the evaluation process above.

Make 2010 your best networking year yet!

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Networking at Trade Shows: The Puppy Dog Close

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

This is a follow-up article to the one I wrote in October about networking at trade shows. If you missed the previous article, check it out.

Part of my preparation for the show was to develop a clear goal. I’ll be very honest and direct. I wanted new clients, and I wanted people to have a good reason to drop their card in my basket.

As a coach, I can make a difference for my clients quickly. With that in mind, I decided to have a drawing for a free month of coaching. I figured I could make enough of a difference quickly enough that the majority of the winners would convert to paying clients.

As my husband put it when I told him about the plan, “You’re using the puppy dog close.”

If you’ve done any reading about sales, you know what he was talking about. Remember when you used to be able to buy dogs and cats at pet stores? Well, a classic technique was to let a customer “take the puppy home for the weekend for free. If you don’t want him, just bring him back on Monday.”

How many puppies do you think came back on Monday morning?

The concept is simple. Let a customer experience what you are offering for free. If they see the value, they will continue to pay for it. I knew I could show value in a month, and it was worth investing my time for the payoff of a new client.

Well, I am happy to report that it just paid off. I just converted my first client from the drawing. And two others are already talking about working with me after the free month.

So as you are making your plans for 2010, think about any trade shows you may be considering. How can you use the puppy dog close to make your investment in time and money pay off? Not planning any trade shows? Not a problem. You can make an offer through social media, your newsletter or any other channels you use to get word out about you and your business.

Anyone else use the puppy dog close to good effect?

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Networking at Non-Membership Based Organizations

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

A client and I were discussing this yesterday. He recently left a networking group he’d been a part of for almost five years, and while he misses the people, he doesn’t miss the group politics. He said he used to spend 10-15 hours a week dealing with the politics in the group.

Other than my local Chamber of Commerce, I have not been part of a membership-based networking group for more than a year now, and this conversation made me realize how much more time I have to work and build relationships. I was able to cut back the minutes on my cell phone plan because I don’t burn up so many on “But he said…” and “But she said…” conversations. I’m not sure I could have maintained a blog or social media a year ago. Now, I have the time.

Most of the places I network now, I can walk in, meet people and walk right back out and go home. No staying after for “the meeting after the meeting.” No phone calls 15 minutes later to hear about the latest thing some member did.

Am I saying quit membership-based groups? No. What I am saying is monitor your time. When you spend more time dealing with group politics than you are spending doing real networking, it might be time to make a change. Perhaps resigning from a leadership position. Or setting boundaries on the conversations you will participate in.

Anyone else have a story to share?

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