Networking from The Societal Web to Family

Networking has become one of the more important ways to gain new business through referral marketing but there are many ways to network.  This article looks quickly at five principal ways that you can engage in networking with your peers, your customers, your suppliers and your potential partners and referral sources.

The Societal Web

In today's connected world conversations no longer simply just happen between people at events or face-to-face.   Progressively more of the conversation is happening online through the medium of social networks (such as Ecademy)  in particular and the Societal Web in general.  To be effective at networking, to get the results we seek, we need to be visible in those networks so that people who are interested in what we do can find us; and we need to be active in those networks so that others who have issues and needs and receive our help can advocate us to their networks as well. Social networking is very new and many people are beginning to understand the power of social networking and find appropriate ways to use it, so seek out the people with the greatest knowledge, watch what they do and emulate it. Look for those who work in a way you feel comfortable with though, there are many styles and none is right or wrong, they are just different.

Networking Events

After a few interactions with others on Social networks you may get the chance to meet at networking events, you'll be surprised by how familiar it 'feels' if your interactions have been well developed on-line. Networking events are simply gatherings of people drawn together with a common purpose; it might be a trade show, it might be something specifically for networking, or it might be an annual meeting or show at which many of your target market or your suppliers attend. Networking meetings allow you to meet new people face-to-face, often briefly, and for short conversations.  They're great for finding and building a list of people who you wish to develop stronger relationships with over time. Common mistakes at networking meetings are handing your card to as many people as possible without any attempt to help them understand why you would be a good contact for them.  A better approach is to spend a few moments with each person you meet and try to understand something that's important to them that you can record, perhaps written on the back of their business card, that will enable you to strike up a conversation after the event, perhaps with a contact or some help for them for the things they talked about.

1-2-1 / Face-to-Face

Following a networking meeting it's not unusual for networking to continue in a 1-2-1 environment face-to-face with the person you've met.  This is a great opportunity to really understand their needs, their business and what they're seeking to achieve. We always remember that our aim in networking is to help develop our own business and find the right partners for ourselves but if we focus only on that, if everyone focuses only on that, the system simply doesn't work. My recommendation is to use 1-2-1s first to understand the other person, to demonstrate that my aim is to help them, and I know that the principles of reciprocity mean that when you do that they will seek to help you, either directly through a referral or an introduction to somebody who can give you referrals, or indirectly by advocating you elsewhere. There is more on this in my blogs 'Business referrals in the Societal Web' and the 'Advocacy in the Societal Web'.

Socially

The fourth main group of networking opportunities arises in our social  interactions through the pubs and clubs that we visit, at the golf course, whilst waterskiing, diving, sky-diving, driving, fishing, playing sport or making music. Whatever our hobbies, those that enjoy the same hobby, that share our time, can also help us in business. Networking is about seeing the opportunity to talk and to ask and to give help to others and, again, if socially we are seen to be helping our friends to achieve what they need, not just in the context of the hobby which brought us together but in the wider context of their business, their life, their health and their family, the more likely they are to provide that sort of help reciprocally.

Family & Friends

These networks we often forget.  They are close to us, we know them well, we understand them and they provide an intimacy that means we often forget to ask them for the help that they can give. Our family and our (close) friends want us to succeed and when we have a problem or an issue we often forget to ask them.  It's always worth exploring with your family and your close friends the details of the issues and the customers that you're seeking because even though we know them well, we do not know them perfectly and we don't know who they may have met recently.

Conclusion

Great networkers embed networking in their lives; they consider it simply a part of who they are and how they work.  But networking is changing with the introduction of new technologies and new means of keeping conversation going and deepening relationships over a variety of media.  It's an exciting time and one which requires continual adjustment and change to get the best possible results for yourself and for others. Tools such as Twitter and YouTube change the game and make things more diverse and difficult to control, stop trying. An age when business was done organisationally, business to business, in a closed selective and controlling way is coming to an end. Networking, delivering business person to person, in an open, random, and supportive way is here and the early adopters of that thinking are winning out.