What is your Self Motivation to be an Effective Networker? by Sally Anderson
Friday November 19, 2010
If you were to calculate what your hourly rate is and the number of hours you have spent in your entire career attending networking meetings – have you got the return on investment that you were looking for? My guess would be that you have not. So my question to you would be ‘Why do you think we tolerate that?
It does not make logical sense to do the same thing and get the same result for that’s just ludicrous. Yet we continue to invest time, energy, and our hard earned dollars into our materials/collateral for little return.
A percentage of the dynamic, if we wish to call it that, lies with the endless number of networking groups that profess you will get business if you join their network and the balance of the percentage lies with ourselves. Until we honor our worth and genuinely consider the ROI factor we will not change the dynamic. NB There is no standard formula for calculating ROI where networking is concerned, however, one needs to assess their own standards based on
TIME+ENERGY+INVESTMENT (Joining Fees/Marketing Materials/Collateral/B’fasts/Lunches/Coffee’s etc = ROI
Precursor to this statement: Do not get me wrong, I am by no means discrediting the many networking groups that support business advancement. I do, however question those that over promise and under deliver, for after all,good intention alone, does not advance business success.
So What Can We Do To Change The Dynamic?
I have spent MANY years networking in the hope that it would generate the desired business opportunities I was looking for. I found being a connector, what usually happened is that I would easily generate business for other people constantly but did not experience, in my case, the same return. Admittedly, I do not run a ‘widget company’, by that I mean a tangible service/product. I run businesses that sell intangible experiences and for most people, until they experience it, they do not know they want and or need it. Given that the majority of people are disassociated personally and professionally it’s a different sales proposition. What do I mean by this? People don’t relate to things that are not working in their personal and or professional lives as ‘painful’ for they are emotionally unaware of the costs. It is something they tolerate.
So what have I learnt and what I now teach people in the arena of networking is:-
1. Stop tolerating not getting the return on investment you desire
2. Become aware of the costs of the years of networking for little return
3. OWN YOUR WORTH, and save your hard earned dollars by honoring your time and your materials/collateral
4. STOP the ludicrous cycle once and for all and reassess where the ‘best bang for your buck’, is
5. Call the existing networking groups to account, if you have not experienced the value you anticipated by investing your time and energy in attendance then make it known that you are dissatisfied with what they advocate. There is a difference being in a networking group that has a genuine conscience and being in networking group that doesn’t walk their talk
6. Check out who you are BEING. Check it out! It just does not make sense to continue to show up week after week, month and month, to the same groups, with little or no return. Who are you ‘being’ that you tolerate this dynamic?
7. Make it easier for people to engage with you – sometimes people find it difficult to refer you because they do not know HOW to explain what you do. To assist them, explain that you offer a free consultation (for those where this applies) and that this is YOUR job to manage, not theirs. This takes the onus off the person referring and places it back in your camp where it belongs
8. Do more research and be more proactive in advance of joining a networking group. Ask the inquiring questions, ie: Investigate application fees in advance. Try visiting as a guest to assess whether this particular group meets your needs. Inquire into what you can expect as a return on my investment by being part of the networking organisation? What guarantees do you offer, if applicable? What opportunities can be created for me to deliver a presentation to your forum? Etc – basically, do your homework!
Owning Ones Presence
The other piece of advice I would like to offer is the ‘Power of Owning One’s Presence’. I believe in the journey towards:-
1. Owning one’s worth
2. Owning one’s message
3. Owning one’s calling
4. Owning one’s purpose
5. AND Owning one’s presence
People make it hard for themselves by driving, striving, forcing an outcome. They seek external validation for their worth. They do ‘looking good’, operating over the top of their fear. They constantly are trying to ‘get it right’, ‘have it handled’, and as a result are so NOT present.
I state to people ‘It is a profound privilege to be in the presence of another human being’, but how often are you truly present? I receive a lot of weird responses from people when I make this statement, for people innately do not believe in their own magnificence. We were born GREAT and then we forgot! The average person at a networking group would not be thinking, on average, that it is a PROFOUND privilege to be in ‘their presence’. I think this is a crime in my opinion.
The next time you walk into a room, OWN YOUR PRESENCE, be centered, energetically claim the space, observe the people, the environment, BE LOVE, and do NOTHING. What you will notice in time is that people will ‘come to you’, if by pure magic and engage in conversation for they are drawn to your energy – there is somethingunquantifiable about you! The irony, all you did was, ‘stand still & BE present’.
10 Key Obstacles To Effective Networking:-
A percentage of people when they attend Networking Events:-
1. Network the room passively, ie
a. Be a wall flower, feeling unconfident and don’t know how to fit in
2. Network the room aggressively, ie
a. Do hard sell without engaging in any level of relatedness
3. State they go for social reasons and completely sabotage business opportunities. Now, for some people their needs are purely of a social nature, which is fine. I am speaking to those that lack confidence in their business
4. Have difficulty articulating what they do and as a result do not leverage the experience
5. Rely on their materials/collateral, ie: business cards/flyers to be the enrolment piece versus be proficient in proactive ‘engaged’ conversation
6. Are territorial (exclude people in conversation and/or protective of their connections) which defeats the purpose of inclusive participation
7. Are competitive and strategic versus welcoming and collaborative
8. Sell out to some belief that they are not confident and as a result find it difficult to proactively sell themselves and their products/services
9. Do not think for the common good of all, they are there for their own egoic motives
10 Key Solutions to Effective Networking:-
1. Own your presence and find evidence for a far more rewarding networking experience
2. Be proactive not passive when it comes to engaging with those at the networking event – do not sell out to not having the confidence
3. No requirement for hard sell, just speak your ‘passion’ with passion and people will understand
4. Practice gaining proficiency with your message before you invest in networking
a. Know what you want to say
b. Know what your point of difference is
c. Know what your value proposition is
d. Know your target market
e. Be aware of your target markets needs
f. Have fun!
5. Get some coaching and or mentoring if you have:-
a. Perceived ‘confidence’ related issues
b. Not been able to overcome your fear in networking environments
c. Difficulty in relating to new people
d. Been unable to articulate your message – what you do!
e. Resistance around fully participating in group dynamics
6. Do not use your collateral/materials or websites as the primary enrolment vehicle – they will be enrolled in you and your passion first and foremost
7. Be welcoming to EVERYONE. Listen people’s greatness regardless of how they occur and be a contribution in each conversation. Treat others as you would like to be treated
8. Completely and utterly resonate CONFIDENCE!!! If you see someone standing on their own welcome them, engage with them. Refer ‘owning your presence’.
9. Come from LOVE, (without judgment) the most powerful emotion and attractor x-factor on the planet
10. Pay If Forward – Two pronged approach:-
a. Be proactive in offering to help other people and they will be more inclined to help you
b. Once you have learnt the ‘art of effective networking’, pay it forward, mentor someone with your knowledge and wisdom