Most business people state the majority of their business comes from referrals. That is why there are so many formalized networking groups in our economy. But, if you have the attitude of “what’s in it for me”, your are heading in the wrong direction.
Are you good at building relationships? Networking yourself to death is not your answer. You don’t meet people one time and think there is a relationship there.
Here is what we know:
- Change your mindset to “you need to give to get”. Individuals that are known as great referral partners receive business as a result. Introduce people to others and you will find that your relationships will also grow.
- Social media teaches you that it is better to be interested rather than interesting. The same holds true for face to face. If you are doing all the talking, you’ve got a problem. Ask questions. People love talking about themselves and you’ll learn about them. If you don’t find out what their problems are, you shouldn’t be selling them in the first place.
- Plan on meeting people 3-5 times minimum to build that relationship. Most sales coaches will tell you this is a must. Do you have a system in place to do this??
- We have a 5 touch program whereby effectively putting our clients in front of their prospects, and giving those prospects something they can appreciate from out clients.
- Social media contacts should be driven to face to face wherever possible.
Check out our group on linkedin and see what our members are saying: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Edge-Up-Network-Get-edge-2220873?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr You can also connect with me directly on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bob-friedenthal/0/b2/73
