{"id":6380,"date":"2016-03-07T18:05:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/?p=6380"},"modified":"2016-03-07T18:05:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:05:03","slug":"myth-and-truth-about-networking-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/myth-and-truth-about-networking-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Myth And Truth About Networking Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Myth<\/a><\/p>\n

Myth 1: The more you network, the more effective your networking activities become.<\/p>\n

Truth 1: It\u2019s much more important to become well-known in 1-2 circles than to spread your networking activities over many different groups.<\/p>\n

See if this networking scenario has happened to you:<\/p>\n

You meet someone for 30 seconds. They mumble something about real estate as you are tuning them out. They ask you what you do, and you say you are in insurance. After 10 seconds of staring blankly at each other, you both head to the celery sticks for lack of anything better to do.<\/p>\n

Myth 2: The cocktails and miniature wiener circuit is the way to network to success<\/p>\n

Truth 2: Networking with strangers to build business is about as effective as going to a bar to get married. In the words of Dr. Phil, \u201cIt simply ain\u2019t gonna happen that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why you\u2019re not going to meet your business soul mate at a networking event:<\/p>\n

1) You aren\u2019t going to do business with someone after meeting them for a few minutes and getting handed a poorly printed card.<\/p>\n

2) Businesses are built on relationships and not \u201c30-second commercials,\u201d no matter how effective and intriguing.<\/p>\n

3) Most of us have major trouble in explaining what we do, much less getting past that explanation and listening for what prospects need.<\/p>\n

4) Networking with strangers is not targeted or specific and in fact is completely random. For some people, networking is exactly as effective as cold calling, which is the least effective marketing tool.<\/p>\n

So am I saying that networking is a waste of time? Absolutely not. What I\u2019m saying is you need to start networking smarter.<\/p>\n

Here are a few thoughts to jog your noggin:<\/p>\n

* Network by having coffee or lunch with people one on one. Get to know them and their business. They may become a prospect, alliance partner, or referral source. But aim first and foremost to make them a friend. The rest will follow naturally.<\/p>\n

* If you\u2019re going to network with strangers, go with the goal of making 2-3 lunch or coffee dates with people you find interesting.<\/p>\n

* Ask every happy customer you have (they\u2019re all happy, right?) for just one referral of someone who would be interested in your type of goods or services, then call and use their name. (\u201cHi I\u2019m Fred and Ginger said I should call you. Isn\u2019t Ginger great?\u201d) You already have one thing in common \u2013 Ginger!<\/p>\n

* Create a network \u201chit list\u201d of the exact kind of businesses you want to network with \u2013 maybe you sell software and you want to meet IT managers at medium-size companies. Make the list and put it in your little black book or PDA. Focus your networking and outreach activities on only those people \u2013 or others who can refer you to those people.<\/p>\n

* Join non-business groups and spend time doing non-business activities: Civic, social, religious, recreational, musical, athletic… the list is endless. Establish relationships with people in your group. Perhaps you\u2019re a Moose and a realtor. A Moose, as it turns out, wants to by a house from another Moose. If so, you have the Moose Market cornered! Are you into hand-drumming. Guess what? A hand-drummer will want to do business with another hand-drummer. Get it?<\/p>\n

* If you do go to a \u201cmixer\u201d go with a targeted goal in mind. For example, your goal might be \u201cto meet three people on my target list and get their card so I can follow up for breakfast, lunch, coffee or badminton.\u201d A traditional \u201cnetworking event\u201d now becomes simply the first phase of your targeted plan for global domination, and not an end in itself.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a final thought to shake up your networking mindset: Network with people who already know you, like you, or have done business with you.<\/p>\n

Myth 3: Networking is all about getting more people to know what you do.<\/p>\n

Truth 3: Networking is all about getting people that already know you to share opportunities where you can be helpful to each other.<\/p>\n

Make 2-3 phone calls a day to connect with people from past jobs, former clients, or influential people who have expressed interest in you in the past.<\/p>\n

We all have a \u201cfan base\u201d that we grossly underutilize.<\/p>\n

Think about tapping into friends, colleagues, mentors, and family to mine the connections you already have at your fingertips.<\/p>\n

So get out there and network \u2013 but make it worth your investment of time and energy by networking smart. As your mother always said, \u201cDon\u2019t network with strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myth 1: The more you network, the more effective your networking activities become. Truth 1: It\u2019s much more important to become well-known in 1-2 circles than to spread your networking activities over many different groups. See if this networking scenario has happened to you: You meet someone for 30 seconds. They mumble something about real… Read More »Myth And Truth About Networking Marketing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,519,1008,23,17,24,1037],"tags":[88,12,404,386,1336,820,971],"class_list":["post-6380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-business","category-google","category-marketing","category-pinterest-com","category-profits","category-social-media","tag-about","tag-marketing","tag-myth","tag-network","tag-networking","tag-smart","tag-truth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestprofitsonline.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}