In the early days of education in America, children were taught the “Three R’s:” Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. As business professionals, we also need to learn our R’s if we want to be successful at networking. In today’s time-crunched, capital-starved economy, networking will emerge as one of the most powerful tools in your business development arsenal. When times get tough, the survivors go back to the basics. Building a strong network of mutually beneficial relationships that you can depend on is as basic as it gets.

And yet, networking has been looked down on, discounted, and treated as the domain of pitchmen, MaryKay ladies, and Chamber of Commerce hangers-on. If you want your small business to survive in the future, you’ve got to ignore the sour grapes of the naysayers and develop your own strong and effective networking strategy. It can be as simple as the ABC’s or in this case, the Four R’s: Relationships, Reputation, Resources, and Referrals.

The First R: Relationships

It’s difficult to make time for purposeless activities where we can see no meaning or benefit. Networking is the same; many people believe it is a waste of time or doesn’t work. They don’t see – and therefore don’t have for themselves – a clear purpose. There is only one reason to network: to develop relationships. It is the foundation for achieving any other goal you have for networking.

The relationships that you form will help you in nearly every aspect of your business. These benefits can be easily categorized into the other three R’s of networking: Reputation, Resources, and Referrals, and.

The Second R: Reputation

Why is cold-calling so difficult and inexpensive? Because the people you are calling have no reliable way of knowing whether or not they can trust you. Unless you’ve spent millions of dollars to become a household name, they will be talking to a complete stranger whom they have no way of knowing anything about. Networking is effective in building your business because you develop a reputation before you begin to do business with them. Often, they do business with you because they know you well enough to trust that the product or service you are offering is beneficial too them.

Networking builds your reputation by allowing other people to get to know you and to learn from your actions over a period of time whether they can trust you or not.

The Third R: Resources

When we entered the Information Age, some people thought we’d find that information alone would be valuable. Instead, there is so much of it that it’s sometimes not worth our time to search the usual sources. Those who have powerful networks can simply tap into the expertise of their contact, saving time and avoiding costly errors. Your network can also provide you with contacts and sources of timely knowledge.

You will benefit from the collective wisdom and experience of your network when you develop mutually beneficial and trusting relationships.

The Fourth R: Referrals

Up to 90% of job openings are never publicized. Except for government contracts where they have to publish their request for vendors, very few businesses advertise that they are looking for products and service providers. You’ll find out about the needs that your direct contacts have because you’ll have established your reputation with them. While some dedicated networkers are able to maintain massive, active networks of thousands of people, it’s likely that you have consistent contact with 200 to 300 people. This is not usually enough to sustain your business. You are going to need these contacts to keep you in mind when they are doing business with their 200 to 300 regular contacts. Now your network is closer to 50,000 people. Having a potential client base of 50,000 can be a powerful incentive to network.

Developing a reliable stream of referrals takes time, but once your network has been asked, encouraged, and rewarded for sending their friends, family, and business contacts to you, you’ll find that the process can become a significant part of your business.

Conclusion

You may not have time to go back to school, but you can take a page from the history of education. Apply the four R’s – Relationships, Reputation, Resources, and Referrals – to your business networking strategy and you may become an old-fashioned success story.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit Meeting Wave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

Rarely will you hear someone actually say out loud that they don’t network because they don’t like other people. They might not think of it as disliking other people. It might be stated as avoiding sales people, or not having the time to spend, or that the event doesn’t attract their kind of crowd. However it is stated or thought, it is one of the reasons that some people don’t get themselves “out there” and into networking events. If you don’t like and enjoy spending time with people, you’re going to have a very hard time getting results from networking.

Expert networkers develop a wonderful ability to like, appreciate, and enjoy the company of nearly every one they meet. It’s not just the extroverts, either. Introverts who are excellent networkers also build their capacity for getting enjoyment from other people (just fewer at a time).

Why is it so important to expert networkers to have a great capability to like nearly everyone they meet?

They know that you get back what you put out. If you like other people and treat them as interesting and worthwhile, they will treat you the same way.

Any hint of disdain, distaste or dislike, no matter how well hidden, will be sensed by other people. They may not know realize exactly what is going on in the other person’s mind, but they will feel uncomfortable around them and will avoid their company.

Experienced networkers also know that disliking other people for their human characteristics is dangerously close to many ‘isms’. If they dislike someone, it is specific to one person for strong reasons that are based on facts.

The final and perhaps greatest reason why successful networkers like nearly everyone they meet, is because they know that you can never tell how someone may be able to help you. If you shut the door on a future relationship because you’ve decided that you dislike something about them, then you may have lost a tremendous resource. Learn to develop your ability to like and appreciate more people and you’ll find that you have developed more opportunities.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit Meeting Wave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

Do you avoid networking because you don’t like the way other people act at networking events? Here are common complaints that people have about the behaviors they encounter at networking events:

• They are always trying to sell
• they’re not friendly
• They aren’t approachable because they are huddled together in small groups
• They don’t converse, but instead complain about everything
• They try to convince you about the superiority of their cause/politics/favorite sport.

This can be true. I’ve encountered these and many other worse behaviors at networking events. But it’s more the exception than the rule, except for the selling which is a topic for another day. I find for the most part that people I meet at networking events are friendly, encouraging, and interesting.

So why do people I know who are going to the same events find that they are getting the unappealing behaviors listed above? I think there’s one of two things happening:

1. They are networking in the wrong place, or
2. It’s not other people, it’s you.

The first item shouldn’t be a problem if you’re networking at business trade shows, professional organizations, and in your Chamber of Commerce. All these activities are designed for people to meet, be friendly and discuss business.

If you’re at the right place, but you still feel like you’re always being sold, that people aren’t friendly, or you’re getting into controversial discussions with complete strangers at events: maybe it’s not them, maybe it’s you.

We get back what we project out to other people.

• If you think other people aren’t nice, that will make you feel unhappy. Then you’ll appear to be unfriendly. Only the most Pollyanna people will listen to you complain about how unfriendly everyone is. Everyone else will seem to be unfriendly because they’re avoiding you and your grumpy face.
• If you feel like other people are selling, we need to take responsibility to redirect, stop, or education them. Or, we might be getting their sales pitch because that’s how we introduced ourselves. We want to teach others that we want to build a little bit of a relationship and determine a need before we go into a sales pitch.

• If you get complaints, are you complaining yourself? Opening the conversation with a complaint brings out the competitive nature in people and they’ll respond with “Oh yeah? Listen to this!” You’ll get nothing but worse and worse stories throughout the evening (because you’ll have to top theirs, and so on).

• If you skip the small talk and going right to the vital causes in your life (politics, sports, religion) without establishing any rapport at all, you’ll reveal three kinds of people. Those who don’t want to debate the issues who will leave as soon as possible and avoid you, those who agree with you who will form a little permanent consensus cluster, and those who disagree with you (and have strong opinions themselves) who will want to convert you to their way of thinking. Then you’ll have your argument.

The next time you find yourself thinking how much you don’t like the way other people act when they network, stop and asses your own behavior first. We very often don’t realize what we’re doing. A positive change in our style will bring out the best in others, too.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit Meeting Wave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

It seems like a contradiction: trade shows attract large crowds, but introverted networkers don’t enjoy big groups of people. But there are characteristics of trade shows that make them a terrific venue for introverts to meet people, gain exposure, and learn more about their business environment.

Introverts like to study a situation and take their time before moving into a conversation or other interaction. But they feel self-conscious about standing by themselves at a mixer, after-hours, or other networking event. While they might be deep in thought, they worry that the might look anti-social. But at a trade show, you can just walk along at your own pace, not saying anything, just taking it all in, and you won’t look out of place.

While extroverts tend to not worry about talking to strangers, introverts can hesitate about making the first move. But at a trade show, you don’t have to initiate the conversation. Approach a booth, pick up some literature, and the person behind the table will start the conversation! How easy is that?

Trade shows are also a great way to be seen (be sure to wear a name badge). Remember, it’s not as much about who you know, as who knows you. Introverts can promote themselves and their business without saying a word by dropping a business card into giveaway basket. Sure, you’ll get a sales letter or call, but at least they’ll have been exposed to your name, title, and company, at least once or twice.

Other great advantages of attending trade shows:

• You don’t have to engage if you don’t want to. You can look and listen without feeling out of place.
• No need for small talk, the topic of conversation will obviously be about the show and the exhibitor booth you’re visiting.
• You don’t have to talk about yourself if you don’t want to.
• You can pick and choose among the many exhibitors to find the few that are the most relevant.

For introverts, trade shows are a great way to gain exposure and make a few, specific contacts without having to engage in the activities that make them feel uncomfortable. Plus, there’s a nice bonus of refreshing your supply of pens.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit Meeting Wave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

Contrary to the popular belief of both introverted and extroverted people, both personality types have characteristics that can help them be excellent networkers. Sometimes extroverts assume they are the best networkers because of their willingness to meet and interact with large groups of people. There is also the misconception that all introverts are shy or aren’t engaging personalities. Introverts have just as much personality as extroverts, they just express it differently.

Here are four reasons why introverted people can be excellent networkers.

1. Networking is all about developing mutually beneficial relationships.

The key to starting a relationship is to make the other person feel appreciated and to show them that you are interested in them. Extroverts can meet a lot of people in a short amount of time through high-energy social interaction, but networking always comes down to one person interacting with another. Introverts prefer to have fewer and deeper relationships, so they will use their one-on-one people skills to help them cultivate constructive relationships.

2. Listening skills are vital to learning about other people.

People want to feel that they are being heard. And, to help them solve problems, you’ve got to hear them talk about their needs. Because introverts are less assertive in speaking, they are less likely to control the conversation. But this means that the other person is much more likely to steer the discussion toward whatever is heaviest on their mind. This creates an opportunity for the savvy networker to help solve the problem through an introduction, giving them a referral, or knowing how to solve it themselves.

3. Networking is about connecting people who can help each other.

Introverts tend to enjoy an inner world of deep thinking and problem-solving. Inside this inner world can be a great deal of knowledge and experience that can be put to use to help other people within their network. While an introvert may know know “everyone” (as people assume extroverts do), but if they will spend time reviewing their resources and know-how, they will become a valued friend to those they help.

4. Maintaining connections is vital to building long-term relationships.

With fewer contacts, introverts can put more resources toward keeping in touch with the people in their networks. They have stronger ties to fewer people. Even though the theory of “weak ties” (we get a greater variety of information from people outside of our tight circle) suggests introverts may be at a disadvantage, they can actually turn this to their favor. They may have fewer relationships themselves, but the stronger ties they develop should give them greater access to the people their contacts know.

Conclusion

While introverts may have to work a little harder at some aspects of networking, their personality style doesn’t mean they are at a disadvantage. In fact, some skills that is vital to developing a strong network of mutually beneficial relationship depends on the strengths of introverts, including listening, staying connected and problem-solving. If you are an introvert, don’t let those extroverts convince you that they have superior skills. Stay focused on your strengths to become a successful networker.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit Meeting Wave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

The traditional view of networking, large groups of people randomly mixing at events, seems to be tailor-made for extroverted networkers. Indeed, they do tend to enjoy networking and gain a great deal from these events because they are able to approach, meet, and engage with a large number of people at these events. But they are still not above improving their networking skills in order to get better results.

Here are five ways that extroverts can improve their networking:

1. Slow Down

Extroverts tend to show more enthusiasm about people and activities that they enjoy. They enjoy the large-scale human interaction that takes place at networking events. But they can get carried away by their enthusiasm and rush through the time it takes to get to know someone. This might be okay if they are dealing with another extrovert, but if they are talking to an introvert, this can be very off-putting. Take time to really slow down, focus on the event and enjoy the moment.

2. Listen

The same enthusiasm and energy can also cause an extrovert to become very talkative. If their conversational partner is quieter or enjoying the monologue, this doesn’t have to be a big problem, but more often than not, they are missing out on important information and clues from the other person. Networking is about helping other people get what they want, but you can’t know what they want if they don’t get the opportunity to speak.

3. Don’t Sell

Extroverts make great sales people, especially if their product or service has engaged their passions. They can find everything the encounter to be related to their company or organization. This alertness for opportunity can be a great asset in finding prospects, but when uncontrolled, it can make them annoying in networking events. It’s vital to not sell people when you first meet them. Extroverts must work extra hard to avoid going into “sales pitch mode” if someone shows interest. It may be just politeness. They need to ask questions and listen before moving on to selling.

4. Meet Fewer People

Because extroverts are energized by interacting with people, they tend to want to meet and interact with as many new people as possible. While creating “weak ties” (i.e. more casual relationships) with a wide variety of people can be beneficial in gathering more diverse information, it’s also important to have deeper relationships you can count on for support. Extroverts can sometimes forget about their existing relationships in pursuit of new and exciting faces.

5. Follow Up

In our time-crunched society, follow up is a difficult task for anyone, extrovert or introvert. But for the externally stimulated extrovert, the tasks of adding names to a database or digging into records for a name to pass on aren’t the most fun part of their day. Extroverts have to set up an easy system, and remind themselves that the vast majority of results come from repeated interaction and not the first time they meet someone.

Conclusion
Extroverts definitely have some advantages when it comes to the “meet and greet” part of networking. Their outgoing personality and gregarious nature make it very natural for them to get acquainted with more people. But these same strengths can also be weaknesses. Extroverts need to work on improving their skills in these five areas to become better networkers.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

Networking is an enjoyable activity. There is the opportunity to meet interesting new people in an enjoyable atmosphere, often accompanied by good food and a door prize or two. But for the busy sales representative, business owner, or independent agent fun is secondary to the need for solid results from networking. We need to GAIN something from the time spent networking.

What can we GAIN from networking? Information, resources, referrals, insight and job leads. One thing we all want are sales. But the harder we pursue sales, the more elusive they can be. And, the paradoxical thing about people who are really great at networking is that they’re not trying to make sales, but they make a lot of sales through their networking. They have to be sincerely interested in the relationship and not the sale … but if you do that, you’ll probably get the sale.
How do these great networkers do it? Think GAIN to remember the most important key points:

G - Give first of yourself, your time, information, experience – give something of value

A - Ask questions about the other person, their life, their experiences, their dreams

I - Introduce them to someone else who is interested in their service or who would otherwise be helpful or even another great networker like yourself

N - Nurture the relationship by continuing to give, ask questions, and introduce them to others

If you focus on this kind of GAIN, then you will benefit tremendously from your networking. Not only can you find it to be an enjoyable activity, but you’ll also make contacts, get referrals, and earn sales from friends and recommendations.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit MeetingWave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (including the author’s bio and the links www.meetingwave.com).

There are two questions you’re almost always guaranteed to get at a business networking event. If it’s the first time you meet someone, they will invariably want to know, “What do you do?” You must be prepared with a great answer to this question, but that’s for another article. The other question is going to be “How are you?”

If it’s a very close friend, and they know you’ve had problems, then they probably do want to know how you are and how you’re dealing with your difficulties. Everyone else is are just being polite. Whatever you do, don’t answer this question with a list of your problems.

You’ve been on the receiving end of this many times. You see someone you have a passing acquaintance with. “How are you?” you ask. They proceed to give you a long list of their problems and difficulties. By the time they are done, the load of negativity you picked up from them has put a damper on your day.

Don’t do this to other people. Regardless of how bad you might think things are, leave your problems outside the event. It’s not lying, it’s using good social skills. If you need positive feedback, let your friends know you need support, but otherwise, there are many good reasons to avoid discussing your problems:

* Unless that person is the cause of your problem, there’s nothing they can do about it.

* If this is the first time you’ve met them, you’re now labeled as a complainer in their mind.

* If you have to mention a body part that we can’t see, that’s way too personal, and you’ve made the other person very uncomfortable.

* You are injecting negativity into a situation that is meant to be fun, such as a networking or business event.

* You’re wasting time whining about your life when you could be building a connection that could solve your problem.

* Everybody has problems. And someone in that room has a much worse one than you do.

If you can focus on the positive and happy things in your life, you’ll feel better. Other people will be more positive with you and you’ll have more productive interactions. Don’t waste the opportunity to solve your problems instead of dwelling on them.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit MeetingWave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (including the author’s bio and the links www.meetingwave.com).

Consider yourself a people person? Are you an avid networker? Do your friends call you an “extrovert?” Good for you and welcome to the club. We extroverts are fortunate in the business world because we tend to enjoy networking more, so we usually get more out of it.

What about our introverted friends? Because most networking events are designed to favor extroverts, you’re probably spending a lot of time with other extroverted people who mirror our traits. It’s a lot harder to step out of the box (or maybe into it) and try to understand a personality style that’s different from our own.

But if you’re going to be successful in business, you must learn to understand, appreciate, and network with introverted people. Here are three reasons why you need to take the time and invest a few quiet thoughts toward understanding introverts better:

1. There are more introverts than you think.

I find a wide range of in the numbers, but introverts could be half the population. Do you really want to lose 50% of your potential allies and business partners because you didn’t bother to learn how to work with them?

2. You’ve probably horrified introverts without knowing it by treating them like an extrovert.

The “Golden Rule” says to treat people the way you want to be treated. To an extrovert, this might mean greeting someone effusively, giving them a big hug and immediately introducing them to five complete strangers. Other extroverts may love this treatment, but your new introverted friend is going to cringe. The “Platinum Rule” (as defined by Tony Allessandra) says to treat people the way they want to be treated. Introverts get pushed to match the behavior of extroverts all the time. Rarely does an extrovert work to slow down and match the style of an introvert. You will be greatly appreciated by the introverts you meet if you’ll treat them like they want to be treated instead of pushing them to be like you.

3. If you can understand their style, you can help them get more out of networking.

The first rule of good networking is to give and help others. If you can learn to understand introverts better, you can help them get more out of networking. This does not mean pushing them to network like an extrovert (see reason #2). It means finding ways to network with them and to help them meet other people using their own strengths and style. It may mean being their buddy at a large event, making sure that you break the ice for them and that they are never abandoned. You might introduce them to people you know one at a time over coffee. Mixers are not the end-all be-all of networking. Help them find more targeted events like lunchtime seminars or speed networking. By helping them get what they want (more business, new contacts, etc.) in a way that makes them feel comfortable, they’ll help you get what you want. You’ll build a wonderful, long-term relationship built on understanding.

Conclusion

Extroverts, take a few minutes to slow down, gather your thoughts, and think about he introverted people you’ve met and are going to meet. While American society seems to value extroversion more, you’ll know the truth. If you don’t take time to seek out and understand introverted people, you are missing out meeting and getting to know some amazing people.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit MeetingWave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (including the author’s bio and the links www.meetingwave.com).

Are you the founder, leader or member of a business referral group (also called a leads club)? Then you know how valuable it is to have a group of people dedicated to providing business leads to each other. This focused form of networking has helped people build their business revenues for decades. But what if your group is new, rebuilding, or growing too slowly to provide a good return on investment? You need to grow your group.

How big is the right size for a leads club? You need to get the size of the group to a point where there are plenty of leads passed. The group also needs to be large enough where there’s a buzz of energy and a sense of anticipation at the referral business that will be generated. There’s not an exact number. Even a group of three or four people can make it work if they are in complimentary businesses. Fifty people might be too many to get through introductions. Fifteen to twenty-five should be workable in terms of giving everyone a chance to speak and be heard.

How do you build membership for your referral leads club? Here are six specific strategies to use.

Recruit Promoters

Look for the most enthusiastic networker you know and bring them in to your group. Their energy and excitement will help boost the morale of your other members. And, they are likely to be one of your strongest recruiters. Their successes become stories that they’ll tell to everyone they network with. Others will want to get a piece of that pie as well.

Word of Mouth

Unless you’ve got an advertising budget, word of mouth (i.e. “referrals”) is going to be your most powerful marketing tool. Even if you have a marketing budget, think carefully before buying ads. Unless you can target them, you’re likely to either spend too much to reach your needed categories or you’ll get too many phone calls from untrained networkers looking to make a quick buck. Word of mouth also allows you to control who is invited to consider the group. Compatibility is important; potential members should have a long-term mindset and understand that they have to give first. Train your existing members how to describe the group and use phrases that sell the benefits (not the features).

Show Value

When talking to a prospective member, you’ve got to illustrate the value of the group. The more specific you can get, the better. For example, the number of members is okay, but the number of leads passed is even more preferred. Can you put a dollar value on the leads passed? Money changing hands is an impressive way to show prospective members that the group is performing as promised.

Follow Up

Don’t assume that a guest will know that they are wanted as a member. Call before the next meeting and invite them back. Find out if they liked what they saw. Don’t forget to close: “Is this the kind of group you want to be part of? When will you be joining?” Make sure that they get a thorough orientation so that they understand how the group works before they sign up. Sour grapes from someone who thought they were getting instant business will poison the group’s reputation.

Invite “Power Partners”

Survey your existing members to find out what kind of businesses they could refer to the most; and who would refer back to them. Deliberately seek to invite those kinds of businesses. Your existing members should already have someone they know, like, trust and want to do business with. You may be bringing in people who are already referring to one of your members, but they’ll add to the energy of the group. Plus, the established relationship means it’s easier for other members to start doing business with them as well.

Visit Open Networking Events

Attend other events such as after work social hours. People at those events are obviously aware of the value of networking so they’ll make a more receptive audience. You can sell them on the idea of being part of a group dedicated to finding business for each other. They’ll be excellent referrers if they continue to go to open networking events.

Conclusion

The most important part of marketing a business referral group is to be consistent, persistent and active. It takes time to develop a group because it takes time for people to build up trust. Stick with it because your patience will pay off. Finally, enhance your patience with action. If you’re the leader of the group, you’ve got to be the head cheerleader and the champion lead-giver. Your members will be encouraged to follow your example, they’ll all get more business and their success will attract others.

Looking for more networking tips, tricks, strategies & advice? Visit MeetingWave’s Networking Motivator Blog.

About the Author: Beth Bridges is The Networking Motivator ™ and creator of the 5 Part Networking Success Plan ™, a simple networking system that can help anyone from business owners to sales agents to college students develop a powerful network. Subscribe to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter at http://www.thenetworkingmotivator.com/ for a quick boost of networking inspiration, information and motivation.”

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