Networking

By Nigel Temple 

Have you ever heard the saying: “It’s not what you know, but who you know that counts”?  Today, although what you know is much more important than it ever used to be, it is still true that contacts matter.  Sadly, far too many people leave this process entirely to chance.

Tell everybody what you do
The first rule of networking is to tell everybody what you do.  This is because people like to deal with people who they either know first hand or who have been recommended to them.

Some 5% of people are active referrers.  In other words, they enjoy recommending products and services.  A bit like Mrs. Bennett in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', always casting around for a suitable husband for one of her daughters.

The 'referral path' can be most interesting.  Let's explore how this fascinating chain of human contacts works.

Pass the human parcel
Consider the following ‘brain teaser’.  You have a package which you want to get to someone who is picked totally at random from the global population of some six billion people.

Let’s say that the person is a management consultant in Arizona.  You don’t know them personally and you don’t have any contact details for them.  The rules are that you must either give the package to someone you know personally – or mail it directly to them.  They then have to pass it on to someone they know.  Using this ‘pass the parcel’ system, the question is – how many people would the parcel have to be passed to – before it reaches the farm hand in Arizona?  Consider this for a moment – and jot your number down.

Research shows that this exercise can usually be done using a chain of only seven people.

This is one of the reasons why networking is so powerful: it’s not just the people who you meet as you network.  It’s all the people that they know who they can potentially connect you with. 

Relationship webs
Imagine that you are in the centre of a ‘web’ of friendships, relationships and contacts.  You then get to know someone new – who of course has their own relationship web.  The result is that the two webs are linked by a new thread. 

When you step back, you can see that there are millions of webs – each interconnected to each other.  You are looking at our global, interconnected human society.

Joining the right groups
The key is to join those groups which are populated by members of your target market.  

Here are a few networking groups (taken from my Links page):

Networking
BRX  |  BNI |   Ecademy  |  LinkedIn  |  Missing Link  |  NRG | Refer-On |  Refer On-line  | 
Speednetworking |  Tribe   |  Xing

Having joined, go along to a number of events and start talking to people.  The ritual of course is to ask what business the other person is in and exchange business cards.  I remember joining the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s.  I went along to nine events and met all sorts of interesting people.

And then one of Chamber executives introduced me to a man who ran his own business consultancy.   As soon as he heard what I did, he asked for a card and told me that he was currently looking for someone exactly like me.  By the time that contract finished, I had invoiced him for over £10,000.  So, does networking work?  Well, it certainly did for me on that occasion!

Give
How will these contacts help your business?  Well, neither of us know yet, do we?  However, let me tell you this.  Successful people tend to be helpful people.  One of the reasons for this is that many people have helped them to get where they are today.  They tend to be happy to give information, advice and (when you get to know them), introductions.

I suggest that you do what they do: give without expectation of return.

It's impossible to give in this life, without getting something of equal or greater value back in return

Written by Nigel Temple, the UK based marketing consultant, trainer, speaker and author. Visit: www.nigeltemple.com