The answer is YES – if it is done right!

After over 4 decades of working in sales and business development, as a salesperson, sales manager, and entrepreneur, I learned these very valuable lessons:

• Successful individuals “Network” with important contacts all the time
• As a result these people consistently gain new and valuable contacts
• Qualified personal referrals from clients or effective referral sources close and become new business 80% of the time

When you actually compare the above activity with other means of marketing or business development there is really no comparison at all.

But the key question is how does one do this right? First off, we have to be clear on a few important things:

Purpose of Networking

Build numbers of new relationships with other people that will in turn provide valuable information and additional contacts that can then lead to the development of new business.

What is a Qualified New Business Referral?

This is a personal introduction to a business or individual that needs your product or service and is qualified to purchase it.

What is a Valuable Referral Source?

This is someone that can introduce you and your firm to a businesses or individuals that need your product or service and are qualified to purchase it.

In the early part of my career I did a great deal of cold calling, usually having been told to do this by my sales manager. And even though I did this for quite some time and with great energy, the results were poor. In other words many hours spent working quite hard to meet sellable prospects with hardly anything to show for it. These activities were canvassing – knocking on lots of doors, as well as cold calling on the telephone.

Fortunately for me, however, was the fact that I had the advantage of having been assigned to several veteran salespeople who in time became my mentors. Interestingly, they each had a very different approach the hallmarks of which were:

1. That the fastest way to gain new business was to create qualified referrals
2. A key successful actions was to know lots of people
3. Another was to have great relationships with clients
4. A third was to build relationships with as many referral sources as possible

Now ask yourself these questions:

1. Have you cold called for new business and what was the result?
2. Have you gained qualified referrals for new business and what was the result?

What is Networking Really and Why is This Activity so Important

1. What we call Networking pertains to a set of actions or activities designed to meet people that are either in your industry or have connections to people in your industry.
2. Why this is so important:
   1. The more industry people you know the more information you will have (Gordon Gekko – Wall Street)
   2. Relationships with other people can create new business opportunities
   3. For a relationship to occur you have to first meet and/or talk with the person
   4. Networking does all 3 items above

Networking Effectively at Events

1. Identify industry specific events to attend
2. Discover at least one other person that you already know who is also attending
3. Talk to that person beforehand and discover who they know that will be there
4. Tell that same person beforehand who you know that will also be there
5. Help each other to start numbers of conversations with people you wish to meet

Once a Conversation Has Begun

1. Talk about the other person, not yourself
2. Ask questions about them
3. Ask questions about their business
4. Make no sales pitches
5. Find out how you could possibly be of help to them and to their business

Note: If you do this part honestly and with genuine interest they will soon enough start asking questions about you and your business. And when they do:

1. Be very succinct
2. Be very clear
3. Conclude by suggesting that the two of you meet to explore how you both might be able to work together

Important

All you are trying to do when you first meet someone is the following:

1. Make contact – exchange cards
2. Get a positive initial conversation started based on a mutually beneficial basis
3. Set up a time for a more complete and thorough discussion

Purpose of Networking

Build numbers of new relationships with other people that will in turn provide valuable information and additional contacts that can then lead to the development of new business.

Ask Yourself This Important Question

How often do you regularly network and/or visit with prior clients and/or past referral sources? If the answer is not very often then:

Why wouldn’t you do this?

1. If you did a really good job for a previous client, what better source could there be for new prospective clients?
2. If you did a really good job for a client gained from a past referral source please remember that you made that referral source look great by doing so. That usually means that the person is very likely to refer again.

So what better and faster way could there be for gaining new business than by getting opportunities handed to you by those you have already helped?

Summary

Two questions I always ask and, if necessary, answer for the clients we work with:

1. When do you have enough qualified prospects for new business? Answer – Never!
2. Well, then how many qualified prospects do you need? Answer – More!

Effective Networking as described above, leads directly to the development of new business by:

1. Enabling you to consistently develop greater and greater numbers of qualified new business prospects
2. Being able to do this faster than any other business development activity

So here is what we are really talking about in this Blog:

Effective Networking That Creates the Opportunity for Developing New Business

This practice, done consistently as described, is a hallmark of very successful professionals that have the responsibility of creating new business.