How to build your Network!

Fact is to play game on Networking well, you would have to have a sizable network, depending of course of your personal or business goals. That being said, whatever your goals are, a too small a network or contacts base will defeat any networking efforts and skills.

To help with that, here is an excerpt of the upcoming book "How to Network Successfully in Business and in Life:

"BUILD THAT NETWORK!
'A very successful and well-to-do businessman used to stay: Get there early and stay later.'

We have followed his advice and have made some of our very best connections in those very last minutes of some events, after the room starts emptying out. It's quite uncanny as a matter of fact.
If one took a quick look around in some areas, one will probably notice some networks. But we probably don't notice/pay attention to them because we get rid of those I'm referring to as fast as we can. I'm referring to cobwebs.

Spiders build them. They build them with care and attention, one line at a time (quite interesting!). They take one line and connect it to one point. And then they string another line from that point to another one. They keep at it and wind up with a network. And those networks can withstand quite some winds.

Oh, we can do that too. Establish, build and nurture a relationship and connect that person to another one. And then do that again.

Truth is we do a far superior job of it. We can take that connection loop it around and connect that person to a far distant person even, further distances away than the cobwebs. Oh, we go further; we take that line and stretch it straight to the moon, put a satellite there and send the communications right back down here in matter of splits of a second! Gives you an idea of the capabilities and competency of human beings. Never thought of that in terms of networking or have you? It doesn't stop there. We expand this network now in most houses and offices, known as TV network. That's not all. We have now gone all the way. It now comes and stay with you 24/7/365 with our i-phones. One wouldn't dare leave home without it! Oh by the way it beats the “American Express” card by a long shot. Get in your car, drive for 10 minutes and you all of a sudden realize that you left your i-phone home. The U-turn is your next move. They are called i-phone but they are really mini-personal-computers that do pretty much everything these days. Perhaps we have finally arrived. We are sure connected electronically at least.

Now it has been said, the biggest loss of income in business is money a business could have made but didn't. But what comes before sales? Promotion and Marketing. So you could said “the biggest loss of money in business comes from promo and marketing actions that could/should have been done but weren't. Now what is the most powerful promotional action in the whole world? Word of mouth of course! What is networking but “word of mouth”. So you could now say, the biggest loss of money in business stems from networking actions that could/should have been done but weren't. This makes sense. Doesn't it?
Now let's consider this.

A rather famous and wealthy person one day on television was talking about the planning of the next year, and he said what he was more concerned with and wanted to have most in his agenda was the numbers of belly-to belly meetings he had scheduled for the year. Note that it was not appearing on TVs, or on some spectacular or magnificent stages but “belly-to-belly” meetings. He added that he will then take his agenda and run it by someone else (one of his mentor) so they could check it and tell him if he had enough belly-to -belly meetings in his yearly agenda. This is how one of the richest men in the world plans his year. Could there be a co-relation between the amount of money he makes and his “belly to belly” (networking) activities? Does anyone still have any questions or doubts about the power of networking or its co-relation with the amount of income made?

Fact is that this person knows exactly where the money is (in networking) and he goes there and get as much as could be gotten. Period. That is why he is one of the very top Worldwide income earner.

One top networker said: ”Those who join you with click, will leave you with a click. Those who join you through handshaking and personal contact are most likely to stay with you for a long haul”. I have witnessed this with our Breakfast Club. Our Breakfast Club grew organically and we sit today with some 8000+ local business people in our data base with very little social media or online activity and we never bought leads. (Now we are on Social Media I must add). In the last decade though I would say at best only 2% of those who join the organization with a click stayed with the organization. The remaining and staying members came through personal contacts. This is not to say that perhaps one day this might not change. It simply tells us at personal contact remains the most powerful and reliable way, when it comes to building a sound and reliable network or relationships.

We have had people in our data base getting our newsletters (because they can sign in through our websites to receive updates and newsletters), sometimes for years. They liked it. And only AFTER the personal contact is made with them, have we seen then coming to our events.

A very important point here is that in networking having more connections, more names, a substantial database is paramount if one intend to get major benefits from networking. This of course depends on the personal plans, objectives or goals. But too few names or too small a database just won't do.

For more information on our Breakfast Events, Networking Classes as well as our upcoming ULTIMATE networking event, the "NETWORKING BOOT-CAMP CONFERENCE" on June 03rd 2016, visit our website at blnbc.com