How to become a connector of collaborators

Within the sea of self-help business books, Wendy Lloyd Curley ’s “Stop Wasting Your Time Networking” stands out as a unique book somewhere in the middle between marketing and sales. Co-titled as “The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Business Through Personal Connections” she published a practical reference for everyone who wants to grow their business by meeting the right people with the right connections at the right time.

Wendy loves to connect with others at various places since the beginning of her career. She spent about ten years in hospitality and hospitality management and ten years in corporate finance and marketing in the telecommunications industry. In addition to that she has been in a tech start-up and runs a very successful MLM business. She also worked on the stage and behind in theatres and heading her own band.

As an Executive Director at BNI, the world’s largest network referral organisation, she uses her experience in connecting small business professionals and leaders to build reciprocal relationships quickly and authentically. During the pandemic she decided to use her natural networking, training and presentation skills to solve a big problem for businesses: not getting results from their networking.

The book covers the journey towards success along two parts: understanding your business and strategic networking. The first chapters take the reader on a detailed discovery along their own services towards evaluating and segmenting the desired specific target audiences. Thoughts about brand reputation, culture, processes and recognition build the foundation before entering the world of strategic networking.

Starting with a referral score to enable others explaining a business to prospects, Wendy explains her Strategic Networking Framework with a graph that shows the need for finding strategic 1st connections to drive conversations which lead into 2nd connections as a source for relevant business connections. She includes not just the target markets but also collaborators, competitors and their recommendations. To illustrate this approach, she added case studies with example conversations across industries. The remaining chapters cover the art of communication, curating a trusted network and implementing a constant feedback loop.

Using simple understandable language, a range of sentences jump into the eyes of the readers, partially against common belief. The first example is this: “The golden rule of networking: Thou shall not sell”. This is one of the misinterpretations as nobody wants to buy at a networking event – so why to pitch to them as a seller?

I also like this definition: “Strategic networking is telling stories about your business and sharing insights about the kind of people who benefit from your business.” And here is a mindset quote towards the outcome of this guide: “What strategic networking will do is make you a connector of collaborators.”

The practical aspect of adding relevant examples makes the book highly relevant. Not sure how to be introduced to the right people? Her simple four-step conversation structure with script examples opens doors to create meaningful introductions. This can be adopted both online and for face-to-face meetings. She also adds principles how to tell a testimonial story to someone else and how to create a referral partner guide as a strategic elements.

What makes this book unique? In my view it stands out with the combination of the hand holding guide aspect and the adaption in real life as a reference book. Participants can adopt their current accidental event participation into a strategic networking approach with plenty of tips to become a true connector. I’m convinced the change is visible in a couple of weeks.

Future authors can learn a lot from this book. She implemented a unique way to get into the topic by using two tables of content: a high-level version just by chapter titles and then more in detail. After each chapter Wendy added homework tasks to be completed before reading the following pages. A handful of graphs like her repeated Strategic Networking Framework support the learning aspect. The size of 186 pages is a good balance providing comprehensive content in a compact package to be actioned quickly.

Q&A with Wendy Lloyd Curley

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

Late August 2020. My candle business structure was going to change in October 2020 and I knew immediately that I would need to start another business. I knew that I had the content in my head and that it was different to what BNI offered, so I decided that the best way to get it out of my head was to write a book. I also knew it would help with my credibility. I credit KPI with planting the PUBLISH seed in my head.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

It took 14 months.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

It was all in my head.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest challenge was to stop editing and stop adding content. I read “The Pumpkin Plan” by Mike Michalowicz and felt my book was severely lacking after reading his… But I knew that I needed it done so I could get to actual revenue generating activity. And I had a business coach who told me to stop second guessing myself and publish. ??

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

“This is easy.”

“This is fucking hard!”

“This is fun.”

“This is frustrating.”

“This is awesome.”

“This is tedious.”

“I’d do it again….”

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I have gotten such beautiful comments and compliments. People use it to train their teams. It is helping me with credibility on LinkedIn and in the market.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Have a business coach or a book coach to help you. George Zenon was mine and he was awesome. He had been through it before and was very helpful in cheerleading, guiding, and advising me.

Wendy Lloyd Curley: “Stop Wasting Your Time Networking”, Sydney 2021, ISBN 978-0-6452294-0-0 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the author: www.strategicnetworking.com

About the reviewer: Gunnar Habitz helps organisations and customers navigate and simplify computing and SaaS complexities and held management roles with entrepreneurial and mature global brands in Australia, APAC and Europe. The Senior Partner Manager at?GoTo ?in Sydney supports partners and their clients making IT easy, everywhere. As a Chartered Manager at the?Institute of Managers and Leaders ?(IML), he mentors the next generation of leaders. Having published a range of books, he is reading and reviewing good books and shares them here. Find more content about leadership, networking and digital reputation on?www.gunnarhabitz.com.au .