Business Networking

Networking or Notworking!

Networking is the buzzword for business in the 21st century. Everyone talks about it. There are so many networking groups it is often hard to choose which ones to join. All claim to help you enhance your business through networking.

Yet many people do not really understand networking. And even fewer implement sound networking principles in their life.

I recently heard a radio interview recently where the guest was asked how could someone get a good work/life balance. To which she responded…

“How can you separate the two? Work is part of life just the same as sport is and family time is!”

Networking is not something you do. It is something you are – a way of life.

If you consider that the best networkers practice giving to receive then why would someone have one attitude at a networking meeting and another one for the rest of their activities. It simply does not make sense.

One of the more well known speakers of the 20th Century, Zig Ziglar, is reported as saying that “you can have anything in life you want if you just help enough other people get what they want”. If that isn’t a “giving” philosophy I don’t know what is!

So if you have an attitude of giving it will show up in your networking.

Good networking is about establishing a contact and then building a relationship with that contact. That takes time and rarely can be done in one meeting.

Many people go to networking meetings with an attitude of “what can I get out of this”. So they turn up determined to gather as many cards as possible and see how many people they can tell about their product or service. That is “notworking”.

Networking is about making contact with someone and looking for ways that you could be of service to them. To do that you need to engage the person and ensure they feel like you are genuinely interested in them. Many people forget the obvious that we do business with people, not companies.

So networking is all about the other person, not about you.

Why is it all about them? Because the law of reciprocity is alive and well. If you help others they will want to help you. And the interesting thing is that it often comes back in multiples.

A story that comes to mind here is the BNI Director in Australia who made contact with a journalist at a local newspaper and asked for some time to come and see her.

No prize for guessing what she expected when he arrived – someone asking for some free publicity! To her utter astonishment he then proceeded to ask questions about her role, her challenges and then ask that famous 5 word question – “how can I help you?” She confided that in all her career as a journalist no-one had ever approached her like that!

Do you think that somewhere in the not too distant future he may get some publicity?

So my question is – are you networking or notworking. The choice is yours – as are the results!