Why attendance is so important

When you join a networking group you have made a commitment to yourself and to the members of the group.  The commitment to yourself is to get a good a good return on your investment.  You have made a commitment to every member of the group to help them grow their business as they help to grow yours, to add value to their business in some way.  Take this commitment seriously.  You have given your word to dozens of people.  They now have expectations of you.  You need to meet or exceed those expectations in order to maintain a solid reputation.  A good reputation is critically important if you hope to generate solid relationships and referral business.

Once you have joined the group, here are some things you should do get the most out of your networking experience.

Get to the meeting early.  If you are late it creates a bad impression, makes you appear unreliable, unprofessional and sends a message you do not value the other members of the group.  How can members of the group be confident (trust) you will show up on time to meet clients they refer to you if you are always late to the chapter meetings?    If they cannot trust you, how can they refer business to you?

The most important advice I can give you is attend the meetings!   Regular meeting attendance is critically important especially if the group meets only once or twice a month.  It is even more important of you are a new member or the chapter is just getting started.  Spending time with and getting to know the members of your network is the only way you are going to build that trust and loyalty with them, and they with you.

Create recurring appoints for your chapter meetings and plan your work around them.  Block out an extra hour before you need to leave in case an appointment runs longer than expected.  Members often skip meetings because they needed to “meet with a client”.  They are afraid to reschedule the client because they might lose the business.  Maybe they will but probably not.

Before you miss a meeting, think of the lost opportunity and business because you were a “no show” when thirty people, including several of your strategic partners, met for lunch and wanted to help you grow your business.  Remember your network is like your sales team.  They expect you to be there and they need your help too.  If you let them down what happens to the trust and loyalty you were building with them?  Do you want to build relationships with people who do not show up to appointments they have committed to?  Is there really a better use of your time than to meet with and motivate thirty people to go out and promote your business?  Miss the meeting only under extreme circumstances.

Attending meetings on a regular basis and being a good active member of the chapter will allow you to build solid relationships quickly.  The loyalty will be established and the business and opportunities will begin to flow.

Relationships take time

All relationships take time and time is money.  You do not have enough time to build and maintain relationships with everyone, nor should you want to.   Be very selective who you allow in your network.  You only want those who provide exceptional service to their clients and bring value to you.

If you think about the general population, less than twenty percent of people deliver exceptional service on a consistent basis.  Less than half of those are good referring partners or know how to reciprocate value back to you.  This means only one out of ten (1 of out of 10) people you meet will qualify to be in your network of trusted referring partners.  Your job is to be able to quickly identify who they are and then get that relationship going.

Doesn’t it make sense if you are going to invest the time to build and maintain a relationship it should be in one which lasts and provides value to you?  We have all invested in the wrong people.  Those relationships are distant memories now, but time wasted nonetheless.  What if you had spent this time building relationships with the “right” people, in long lasting relationships?  How much better off would you be now?

Remove the fear from networking

The mere thought of networking makes most people nervous.  Who likes the idea of walking into a room full of strangers, engaging in conversation and having to “perform” well enough to generate some business?  It can be such a daunting task many people won’t do it.  They refuse to employ the most powerful tool to help their business grow.

Here is a simple tip to remove ALL of the fear of networking and improve your results at the same time:

Change your mind set about networking.  It is no longer about “getting business”.  Instead walk into that networking event with the thought:

“I need to expand my network with exceptional service providers.   I need quality people to refer business to.  Having a good network of service providers makes me a valuable resource to my clients.  If they are really good I can introduce them to some strategic connections in my existing network.  I want to identify these people at this event”. 

Once you meet people at the event, tell them why you are there.  Ask questions designed to determine if they are good at what they do.  Find out if they deliver quality and value to their clients and if you can trust them with your referrals.  This takes all the “pressure to perform” off of you and puts it on squarely on them.  In addition, you will create a great first impression because you are helping them, not selling yourself.  You will likely be the ONLY person they meet at this function with this attitude.  They will appreciate it and remember you.

Video Blog – Why most networking groups do NOT work well

Most networking groups do do provide the return on investment they could because they have inherent limitations and weaknesses that actually LIMIT the amount of business you can get.  Take a look at the video for an explanation:

We are interested to hear your thoughts on this topic?

Qualities we need in our referring partners

We all joined the network to grow our business.  We invest time and money and need to get a good return on our investment.  Ideally, we must see the following qualities/characteristics in every referring partner in our network.

1. Good at what they do. Every member must exceed our clients expectations and make us look good for referring them.  It is better not to make a recommendation at all than to make a bad referral.
2. Good referring partners. Fellow members must help us grow our business as much as we help them grow theirs.  They can do this in several ways: Use our services, refer family friends and clients, make introductions to people in a position to refer us business and by creating opportunities for us.  Every good referring relationship has to be mutually beneficial.
3. Expand our network with other good quality people. We want our referring partners to introduce us to other good quality referring partners, people they know who possess these three qualities.  They should look into their sphere of connections and bring them to a meeting, invite them to join.  Collectively we all benefit as the network expands with quality individuals and we will help them grow their business too.

If these are the same qualities you need to see in your referring partners, what do you think they need to see in you?  Look at yourself first.  Do you offer these qualities to members of your chapter?  If we all start today, we all benefit tomorrow.  Bring a quality guest to your next chapter luncheon.

Attending a networking group event for the first time

Here are some tips to keep in mind when attending a networking group event for the first time.

Tip #1: Develop and practice a good 30-second elevator speech.  Make it memorable and effective.  This often creates the first impression for dozens of people in the room who do not know you.  Be confident, polished and professional.  These qualities are conducive to getting business.  Do not just “wing it”.  Here is a template for a good 30-second elevator speech.

Tip #2:  You may not know anyone at the event.  Inviting someone to come with you can ease some tension and there is a good chance they may know someone if you do not.

Tip #3:  It is normal to be nervous walking into a room full of strangers, especially if you think you need to perform and sell yourself to them.  Instead, go in with the attitude that you want to meet good quality service providers to refer clients to.  This takes all the pressure off, allows you to ask questions and let the other person do all the “selling”.  You will make a great fist impression because you are there to help them grow their business.

Tip #4:  Find and greet the host as soon as you can.  Make sure they know what profession you are in and ask if they can make an introduction to someone in the room in a related field.  You will have things in common and it makes it easier to keep the conversation going.

Tip #5: Bring plenty of business cards and keep them accessible.  As you mix and mingle, keep your drink in your left hand.  This keeps your right hand dry to shake hands and pass out business cards.

Joining the right networking group

Every business is different, and every networking group is different.  There is no perfect group for everyone.  Which group will provide you with the greatest return on your networking investment?  How do you know which group you should join?

All too often people join the first group they consider, usually because someone they know invited them to a meeting.  In most cases the return on investment (considering both time and money invested) is not as good as it could be, and sometimes it is really bad.  Choosing the right networking group is as important as choosing the right marketing message and medium for your business.  Put some thought into it before you make a commitment.

Consider your business.  Who are your strategic partners, the people who are in a position to refer a significant amount of business on a consistent basis to you.  We all have them.  These are people who are well connected to lots of your clients and are usually in a position of trust.  For example, someone who owns a sign company would have several strategic partners like: business broker, business attorney, business consultant, graphic design company, marketing specialist etc.

Make a list of your strategic partners.  Then look at the membership list of the group you are looking to join.  Are your strategic partners in this group?  If not, don’t join even if it’s free because time is money.  The one exception to this is a rare one.  If members do a good job introducing other members to strategic partners outside the group it could be very powerful even if you strategic partners are not in the group.  The VAST majority of groups do not do this so however.

Once you find a group with some good partners for you, there are some other things you need to consider.  Look at the bylaws and read the fine print.  Many groups have rules and expectations that you may not be willing to conform to.  Are there frequent meeting requirements?  Does this group prohibit you from joining other networking groups? Are there mandatory recruiting requirements?  Know what you are getting into.

If the membership list looks good and you are OK with the bylaws, attend a meeting.  Get an idea of the quality of the group, is it growing and dynamic?  Are there quality controls in place to ensure the members are good at what they do, and what are they?  Are the referrals being exchanged really “referrals” or just warm leads and not much more than a cold call?  Sit next to one or two of your potential strategic partners.  Ask them if they would consider building a mutually beneficial relationship with you once you join.  Maybe they have a relative who provides the same service as you and you will never get a referral from them.

Remember if you refer business to someone and they drop the ball, your reputation is on the line and it can cost you money. Pay close attention to the quality of the group.  Are  members the decision makers and does the group screen for quality or let just anyone in?   You need a group where membership quality is a concern and people are removed for providing substandard service.  Most groups DO NOT do this.

If everything looks good, this is the right group for you.  It should provide a steady stream of referral business for you.  Don’t stop there.  Go find another “right group” for you.  Effective networking is one the most powerful ways to grow any business, and not much else will come close to generating the same return on investment.  The more people that know about your business, the better!