Magazine

By Dr. Ivan Misner

A lot of people assume that referral groups and other networking organizations are only for those who are young, new to business, and hungry to grow their businesses. However, the studies don’t support that line of thinking. If fact, it has actually been shown that the ages of referral-group members range from the twenties age group – to well through the sixties.

A universtiy survey of networking group members, conducted by Steve Brewer of St. Thomas University as part of a master’s thesis, showed that 74 percent owned their own business. Approximately 40 percent were women, 60 percent men. About one-third of the members were over fifty years old, only 10 percent younger than thirty. The age distribution formed a typical bell curve. However, when analyzing the ages of those who responded, we found that sixty-three percent of all respondents were 40 years old or older.  Clearly, this would indicate that the age of the average participant in networking groups is higher than some would expect. In fact, from both empirical data and from my own observations from well over 20 years in the business of “networking,” I firmly believe that it is mostly the seasoned business professional who seeks out the long-term benefits of a referral-marketing strategy.

In any good networking organization, selecting qualified members are very important. Good groups tend to select more experienced people over inexperienced ones because they know that seasoned professionals are more likely to bring in an established network. They are also more likely to be good referrals, because experienced people are typically better at what they do for a living. An experienced referral is more likely to work out well and reflect favorably on the person providing the referral.

In fact, it could be argued that the last point above is the most important: An experienced referral – referring someone who is experienced at the work they are being referred to do – is a trait that is even more important to the networking group than having a person in the group that just has a large “network.” One of my colleagues, an author and currently serving as an office in a networking group recently had to caution the committee in charge of admitting new members. The chapter was in a “growth” phase, and the committee was eager to admit just about anyone submitting an application. In one case, a visitor introduced herself as an Executive Coach. As she described what she did, she stated that she had just left a career in advertising to “realize her dream” in becoming a coach. She was in the process of being certified, and wanted to join a networking group to be able to get her first “paid” clients.

The membership committee was very excited about this applicant, citing her “huge” network of colleagues from her former career. However, the president asked the committee about the three required references that the prospective member had put on her application. Yes, they all spoke very highly of her, and said she was great in advertising, the president was told. But what about her coaching ability – was she a good coach? enquired the president. Well, she doesn’t have any coaching references, as she is just starting out, said the committee. At that point, the president asked the committee members how they could be sure she was any good at the job category for which she was applying, and how could members of the chapter refer this coach to the contacts who would trust them to give a solid referral if it was not yet known how good a coach this applicant actually was? In this case, the risk of a member who was very inexperienced in the profession she was representing far outweighed the benefits of her large network.

Note, however, that a good networking group should still strive to seek a balance between “old pros” and “newbies.” Groups with only seasoned people can be too laid back and easygoing, because most of their members are not in the start-up phase anymore, and no longer are new prospects perceived as being as important to the business as they once were. But a group made up mostly of new people tends to be too frenetic, too hungry

In well-balanced groups, we’ve seen very successful partnering between established professionals and younger, newer, “junior” professionals. (Note, however, that “junior” networkers should still be very good at the job or service they are trying to sell, so that members can be comfortable referring business to them.) When the networking veteran takes the newer partner under his or her wing in a mentoring relationship, coaching that person in the finer points of word-of-mouth marketing, the junior professional gains business acumen as they accumulate real-world experience, and both begin to see more referrals coming in. It’s a real win-win, Givers Gain^® kind of experience: if you give business to others, they will give business to you.

Called “The Father of Modern Networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder & Chairman of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization.  His latest #1 bestseller, The 29% Solution, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.  Dr. Misner is also the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com).  He can be reached at misner@bni.com.

By Dr. Ivan Misner

Once you overcome these misconceptions, there will be nothing to stop you building a powerful network that provides continuous business and opportunities.

Think about the most successful people you know. What do they have in common? Probably this: They have built a network of contacts that provide support, information, and business referrals. They have mastered the art and science of networking, and business flows to them almost as a matter of course.

It has taken these successful networkers years of hard work and perseverance to build their networks. It will take a similar commitment for you, too. However, many people, before building networking prowess, need to overcome three major networking misconceptions.

1. “How do I network if I’m not a naturally outgoing person?”

Go ahead and breathe a sigh of relief—because you don’t have to become Mr. Public Speaker, Person About Town, to be a successful networker. Most business people, given a little real-world experience, naturally develop a certain level of comfort in dealing with customers, vendors, and others in their day-to-day transactions. Even people who are not gregarious or outgoing can form meaningful relationships and communicate.

Over years of teaching people the art of networking, I’ve found many techniques that can make the process a whole lot easier—especially for those who consider themselves a bit introverted. For example, volunteering to be an ambassador or visitor host for a local business networking event can be a great way to get involved without feeling out of place.

Think about it. When you have guests at your house or office, what do you do? You engage them, make them feel comfortable; perhaps you even offer them something to drink. What you don’t do is stand by yourself in the corner thinking about how you hate meeting new people.

By serving as a visitor host at your local chamber event, you effectively become the host of the party. Try it! You’ll find it much easier to meet and talk to new people.

2. “Getting business by person-to-person referral sounds like something that used to happen when my great-grandfather was selling horse-drawn buggies. Why should I waste my time on a marketing method that’s generations out of date?”

Yes, networking has been around a long time. It used to be the way that most businesses operated. In a small community, where everybody knows everybody, people do business with the people they trust, and they recommend these businesses to their friends. Small-town professionals naturally tend to refer business to each other, too—usually to those who return the favor, but often simply on the basis of whose service will reflect best on the referrer. If you’re a plumber and you refer a customer to a dentist you know, you don’t want that customer complaining to you a week later about what a lousy dentist you sent him to.

Today, most people do business on a larger scale, over a broader customer base and geographic area. More people now live in cities, and in even a small city most people are total strangers to one another. The personal connections of the old-style community, and the trust that went with them, is mostly gone. That’s why a system for generating referrals among a group of professionals who trust one another is so important these days, and it is why referral networking is not only the way of the past but the wave of the future. It’s a cost-effective strategy with a long-term payoff. It’s where business marketing is going, and it’s where you need to go if you’re going to stay in the game. As the great hockey player Wayne Gretzky said, “I don’t skate to where the puck is, but where it’s going to be.”

3. “Networking is not a hard science.”

I once suggested to the business dean of a large university that the business curriculum should include courses in networking. His response? “My professors would never teach that material here. It’s all soft science.”

I should not have been surprised, because I’ve run into this attitude many times at many business schools. But it shocked me to hear it at a progressive major university.

We give people bachelor’s degrees in marketing, business, and even entrepreneurship, but we teach them hardly anything about the one subject that virtually every entrepreneur says is critically important to his or her business—networking and social capital. Why don’t business schools teach this subject? I think it’s because most are made up of professors who’ve never owned a business. Almost everything they’ve learned about running a business they’ve learned from books and consulting.

Can you imagine a law course taught by someone who’s not an attorney, or an accounting course taught by anyone without direct accounting experience? Yet we put business professors in colleges to teach marketing and entrepreneurship with little or no firsthand experience in the field. Is it any wonder, then, that a subject so critically important to business people would be so completely missed by business schools?

The science of networking is finally being codified and structured. Business schools around the world need to wake up and start teaching this curriculum. Schools with vision, foresight, and the ability to act swiftly (the way business professors say businesses should act) will be positioning themselves as leaders in education by truly understanding and responding to the needs of today’s businesses.

At the end of our conversation, I asked the dean, “How are courses on leadership any less a soft science than networking?” He didn’t have an answer.

Update: The school has replaced this dean with a new one who believes that emotional intelligence is an important thing to teach our college students. There may be hope yet!

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.  His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.   Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.

By Dr. Ivan Misner

Every business should have a CNO, but you don’t have to hire one. You just have to take on the “CNO mindset!”

Those of you who work in organizations might be familiar with an increasingly popular position, that of chief networking officer (CNO). The CNO is the person who handles many corporations’ business networking and community-related activities such as these:

Community involvement                     Diversity

Internal communication                       Client/customer relationships  

External communication                      Developing a word-of-mouth campaign

Public relations                                    Departmental collaboration

Corporate culture                                 Relationship advertising and marketing

Social capital                                       Improve vendor relationships

Human resources                                 Referral generation strategies

In this article I will focus on two roles of the CNO (1) word-of-mouth campaigns and (2) referral generation strategies. These roles should be top of mind if you’re going to network like a pro. They should be the principal job focus of your CNO.

First, however, let’s address the thought that’s probably just popped into your head: Hey, it’s just a ten-person (four-person/one-person) organization; how can I afford to hire a CNO to do my networking?

As business professionals ourselves, we remember what it was like trying to get a company off the ground. And quite frankly, there never seemed to be enough resources to take care of all the things the business needed, let alone hire an executive-level person.

What I’m suggesting is creating a CNO position in your company—and filling it yourself, at least in the beginning. In other words, don’t hire a CNO – just take on a CNO mindset.

How do you create a CNO mindset? Here are five actions you can take day to day.

1. Engage in two to three networking events each month and follow up with people you meet. As a smart, enterprising businessperson, you already know the importance of networking and how vital it is to meet new people. However, one of the biggest mistakes people make is failing to follow up.

By adopting a CNO mindset, you recognize that meeting new folks while networking is just the first step towards generating more word-of-mouth business. The second step is meeting them later over coffee or lunch to learn more about their business and how you can help them. When you do that, you pave the way for future referral business.

2. Touch base with past business contacts by making two personal phone calls each week. Again, if you’re like me, you’ve got so much going on that the thought of making two more phone calls is almost too much. But remember, a CNO’s job is maintaining relationships and generating referrals. And that can’t happen unless you stay in touch.

3. Use postcards and greeting cards to stay in touch with people throughout the year. A good time to do this is on annual holidays—and not just Christmas or New Year’s, but also St. Patrick’s Day (March), Memorial Day (May), Independence Day (July), Labor Day (September) and Halloween (October) as special occasions when a card can be an unexpected surprise.

You can start off by buying a pack of 20 cards and sending them to people you’ve fallen out of touch with or with whom you’d like to reconnect—past clients, past vendors, a friend of a friend, another business owner you chatted with at your local coffee shop a few months ago. Doing this will keep you top of mind with these people in a unique way.

4. Take good care of your database. With all this talk about phone calls and greeting cards, it makes sense that a CNO should have a top-flight contact database and contact management system (CMS) to help her stay organized and on top of things. For those of you who might not be familiar with those terms, a contact database is simply a storage facility enabling you to keep track of all the people you’ve met. It can be as simple as a physical card file or as high-tech as an online data site. It just needs to be something you can use so business cards aren’t falling off your desk and onto the floor.

Using database management software can streamline and supercharge your referral generation system. Because there are there data entry fields for many different kinds of information (email address, phone number, profession, where you met the contact, etc.), you can sort contacts by many different criteria and target emails to particular segments of your database with a few clicks of the mouse. O have experience with several such systems, including ACT, Microsoft Outlook, and Relate2Profit.com.

The reason these systems are so important for a CNO is because his contacts are his business! You can’t get referrals unless you have relationships, and you can’t have relationships unless you stay in touch and up to date with contacts. A good contact database and contact management system enables you to do both while creating a powerful word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

5. Always thank your referral partners. A “referral partner” is not simply a contact who gives you referrals every once in a while; a referral partner is someone with whom you have entered into a relationship that is mutually trusting, respectful, and beneficial. Maintaining that relationship means, among other things, thanking your contact for referrals. It’s not only good manners; it’s good for keeping the benefits mutual.

Thanks can and often should take the form of reciprocation, of course; get a referral, give a referral. The Law of Reciprocity, however, doesn’t require such a quid-pro-quo response, and indeed it might even seem a bit artificial if it happened as a matter of course. The person being thanked might be inclined to think, If my partner can send me one referral every time I send him a referral, how many might he be able to send me if he sent me all the business he knows I could use? Is he, in other words, holding back? Is he doling them out like dog treats every time I perform a trick?

Rather than foster such ideas, make sure you send your partner a referral every time you have the opportunity; chances are the ones you receive from him (and others) will balance out in the long run. Gratitude by reciprocity should be given freely and abundantly and not in measured response to the number of referrals received. A referral partnership should never be viewed as a simple accountancy.

 A simple “thank you” is always appreciated and should always be the first response given. It’s probably the single biggest action a CNO can take to maximize the number of referrals he gets. It will typically double the amount of referral business he gets from an existing referral partner.

This simple thanks can take many forms other than a voiced “Thank you.” There are many ways to show your gratitude, but it’s important to simply understand that thanking the person who gave you a referral in the first place is just as important as getting that referral. When you do, that person will be more likely to do it again and provide another revenue boost for your business.

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.  His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.   Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.

One of the biggest misconceptions about networking is the notion that it’s an “all you can eat” affair. (Quantity is fine – but quality is KING.)

By Dr. Ivan Misner

Businesspeople unfamiliar with referral networking sometimes lose track of the fact that networking is the means—not the end—of their business building activities. They attend three, four, even five events in a week in a desperate grasp for new business. The predictable result is that they stay so busy meeting new people that they never have time to follow up and cultivate those relationships—and how can they expect to get that new business from someone they’ve only just met? As one of these unfortunates remarked to me, “I feel like I’m always business but rarely getting anything done.”

I certainly agree that meeting new people is an integral part of networking, but it’s important to remember why we’re doing it in the first place: to develop a professional rapport with individuals that will deepen over time into a trusting relationship that will eventually lead to a mutually beneficial and continuing exchange of referrals.

When meeting someone for the first time, focus on the potential relationship you might form. As hard as it may be to suppress your business reflexes, at this stage you cannot make it your goal to sell your services or promote your company. You’re there to get to know a new person. A friend of mine told me something his dad always said: “You don’t have to sell to friends.” That’s especially good advice when interacting with new contacts.

This certainly doesn’t mean you’ll never get to sell anything to people you meet while networking; it does, however, mean that you’ll need to employ a different approach. Networking isn’t about closing business or meeting hordes of new people; it’s about developing relationships in which future business can be closed. Once you understand that and put it into practice, you’ll notice a few things happening to your business.

First, you’ll stand out from the crowd with everyone you meet. People often ask me how they can get business at an event when there are so many other people trying to do the same thing. I simply tell them to stand out from the crowd by doing things a bit different. A good way to do that is by asking a new contact good questions and taking the time to listen to her answers. (A “good” question is one that gets the person talking about herself while helping you understand her business. It is not an opportunity for you to vet this person as a client.)

Good questions not only get the ball rolling, they take the pressure off you to carry the conversation; meeting new people can be hard enough without feeling you have to be the life of the party to do it. If you’re not sure what kinds of questions to ask, go back and re-read chapter 14, where we talk about them in more detail.

Another good reason for adopting this advanced networking approach is that it will differentiate you from the competition. This is especially vital for mortgage brokers, real estate agents, insurance agents, CPAs, financial planners, and others in highly competitive industries. You can’t go to a networking event without running into at least one person in some of those fields.

When you’re networking like a pro and treating new contacts as future referral partners, you’ll absolutely blow away any competitors who will still feel compelled to meet as many people as they can. Why? Because when you call your contacts back, they’ll actually remember who you are and will be willing to meet with you again. This is obviously a critical next step for securing more business.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a look at some specific steps you can take toward getting more business from your very next event.

1. Limit the number of contacts per event. The most important thing is the quality of the contacts, which means the type of contact, the relevance to your business and interests, how good a connection you’re making, and the individual involved. At a typical event, five to ten might be all you can handle. This may not seem like a lot of contacts, but it’s really more than enough when you’re talking to the right people. (That’s why it’s so important to have a network strategy—which we’ll cover later.) If you attend two events per week, that’s 10 events a month, or 30 to 50 new contacts every 30 days. Continue to do that over the next couple of months—while following up with the people that you’ve met—and you’ll soon have more than enough high-quality contacts to keep you busy.

2. Spend five to ten minutes talking and listening to each person. Just because you’re not handing out your business card to 1,001 people doesn’t mean you should spend 20 minutes talking to just one individual. Invest a few minutes in getting to know each person. Make sure to ask for her business card. Then follow up with her after the event; this is where the heavy lifting takes place. Remember, all we’re doing now is setting the stage for future business.

3. Write notes on the backs of peoples’ cards. Not only do notes help you remember what the other person said at an event, it slows you down a bit so you’re not running around trying to meet the next person. On the front of the card you can write the date and name of the event where you met the person; on the back, a few quick notes about the conversation or anything else of note. When you contact the person later, this will give you something to refer to.

Here are a few things to remember when it comes to meeting new people.

• You’re not interested in selling anything to the person you’re just meeting; you want to find some way you can help her. You understand, of course, that what goes around comes around, usually in the form of referrals for your business.
• You want to create a visible identity with everyone you meet. A visible identity is the answer to this question: “How can I differentiate myself, in the mind of this other person, from the other five people she’s already met?”

Keeping those two ideas in mind will give you a leg up when meeting new contacts. Using this simple, Givers Gain approach, you’ll see an up-tick in the amount of new business and referrals you get while networking.

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.  His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.  Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.

by

Ivan Misner Ph.D.

Networking is more than shaking hands and passing around business cards.  Based on a survey I conducted of more than 2,000 people throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, it’s about building your “social capital”.  The highest-rated traits in the survey are the ones related to developing and maintaining good relationships. For years I’ve been teaching people that this process is more about “farming” than it is about “hunting”.  It’s about cultivating relationships with other business professionals.  It’s about realizing the capital that comes from building social relationships.

The following traits were ranked in order of perceived importance to networking.  They are the traits that will make you a “master networker”.

1. Follows up on Referrals. This was ranked as the NUMBER ONE trait of successful networkers. If you present an opportunity, whether it is a simple piece of information, a special contact, or a qualified business referral, to someone who consistently fails to follow up successfully, it’s no secret that you’ll eventually stop wasting your time with this person. 

2. Positive Attitude. A consistently negative attitude makes people dislike being around you and drives away referrals; a positive attitude makes people want to associate and cooperate with you. Positive business professionals are like magnets.  Others want to be around them and will send their friends, family, and associates to them.

3. Enthusiastic/Motivated. Think about the people you know. Who gets the most referrals? People who show the most motivation, right? It has been said that the best sales characteristic is enthusiasm. To be respected within our networks, we at least need to sell ourselves with enthusiasm.  Once we’ve done an effective job in selling ourselves, we will be able to reap the reward of seeing our contacts sell us to others!  That is motivation in and of itself!

4. Trustworthy. When you refer one person to another, you are putting your reputation on the line. You have to be able to trust your referral partner and be trusted in return. Neither you nor anyone else will refer a contact or valuable information to someone who can’t be trusted to handle it well.

5. Good Listening Skills. Our success as networkers depends on how well we can listen and learn. The faster you and your networking partner learn what you need to know about each other, the faster you’ll establish a valuable relationship. Communicate well, and listen well.

6. Networks Always.  Master networkers are never “off-duty.”  Networking is so natural to them that they can be found networking in the grocery store line, at the doctor’s office and while picking the kids up from school, as well as at the chamber mixers and networking meetings.

7. Thanks People.  Gratitude is sorely lacking in today’s business world.  Expressing gratitude to business associates and clients is just another building block in the cultivation of relationships that will lead to increased referrals.  People like to refer others to business professionals that go above and beyond.  Thanking others at every opportunity will help you stand out from the crowd.

8. Enjoys Helping.  Helping others can be done in a variety of ways, from literally showing up to help with an office move, to clipping a helpful and interesting article and mailing it to an associate or client.  Master networkers keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities to advance other people’s interests whenever they can.

9. Sincere.  Insincerity is like a cake without frosting!  You can offer the help, the thanks, the

listening ear, but if you are not sincerely interested in the other person, they will know it!  Those who have developed successful networking skills convey their sincerity at every turn.  One of the best ways to develop this trait is to give the individual with whom you are developing a referral relationship your undivided attention. 

10. Works Their Network.  It’s not net-sit or net-eat, it’s net-WORK and master networkers don’t let any opportunity to work their networks pass them by.  They manage their contacts with contact management software, organize their email address files and carry their referral partners’ business cards as well as their own.  They set up appointments to get better acquainted with new contacts so that they can learn as much about them as possible so that they can truly become part of each other’s networks.

Do you see the trend with these ten points?  They all tie in to long-term relationship building, not stalking the prey for the big kill.  People who take the time to build their social capital are the ones who will have new business referred to them over and over.  The key is, to build mutually beneficial business relationships. Only then will you succeed as a master networker.

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.  His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com.  Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.