The Networking Myth

THE NETWORKING MYTH

As an executive with Xerox, I was taught PSS as the most important tool to sell our products. The tool consisted of stating the set of benefits first followed by talking about the characteristics of the product that would most likely serve the prospect. Perhaps you noticed that the idea of networking was absent from this approach. At this time, which was in the early 70s, Xerox was practically monopoly and I needed no introduction to get an appointment.

Subsequently, I worked with companies that faced a normal amount of competition. As a result, I was introduced to networking as a tool. Suddenly, I was told that it was important to be referred by somebody who was known to the prospective client. That required me to generate a few referral partners. Using what I had learned, I naturally approached these referral partners in the same way I had learned at Xerox. The key to generating referral partners became like my approach with prospective clients. Naturally, I thought I would start with defining my target client so that the referral partner had an idea of my ideal client. Then, I launched into a detailed explanation of what my products were.

Networking gurus then influenced me to develop an elevator pitch to develop an elevator pitch of 90 seconds to tell a possible referral partner what my company was all about. In this era of zoom networking, I was able to share that information with several people at the same time. Why wasn't I getting as many callbacks as I expected? 

The other day, I had the opportunity for a one on one with Lorry Rifkin, CPA, one of the people that was present on a Zoom networking call with me. The question he asked was, “If people buy from people who they like and trust, what have you told me about you, so I like and trust you? Of course, I was stumped! There was no way to refute his idea. It was such an obvious question, that I asked myself why so-called networking experts had not pointed that out.

Of course, companies like Sandler Sales have taught us that we must ask questions to find pain. That requires us to truly understand the client’s pain before offering a solution. The longer you focus on the client’s description of pain, the more we understand what the solution is. That throws the whole argument, that proposes an initial sale based on your benefit statement, out the window. There is no telling what the correct solution is until we know more about why the prospective client is feeling pain.

Up until this point, I have not explained what Lorry meant or what he asked me to do. He asked me to tell my life story on his LinkedIn interview program, “#lunchwithlorry”. He is a networking expert. More info on him and his networking events can be found at: www.lunchwithlorry.com or [email protected] 414.702.6845.

Why is it important to Lorry that people start out with aspects of their life story rather than describing their company?

The reason is that a referral partnership, which is one reason we engage in networking, is based on likeability and trust. You might ask why that is important or you might say that you have heard that before and you understand. But how do you develop trust by talking about what you do?

The answer is simply that you do not develop trust by talking about your company or product. Lorry taught me that telling your life story is at least as important as talking about your business. Your life story is the way to find common ground with the person you are engaged with. In our conversation we both found that we have a common interest in sailing and experiences in business. We spent some time talking about aspects of our lives. We began to develop a personal relationship based on trust and more importantly I now understand Lorry’s brand: “Supercharged Networking Build Relationships First, So Business Will Follow”.