Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall - Part 2

=> Expanding Your Network Now think about what you need to do to expand your network. Think about where you should go, what networking groups you should consider joining and how much time you have available to invest in networking. Ask people from your existing network where they go and what they do and start there. Also think about groups such as alumni clubs, industry associations and social clubs and well as your personal hobbies and interests. Attend networking functions organized by these groups and when you're there, work the room. Enjoy yourself, shake hands firmly and smile. Show up early and leave late. If you go with a friend or colleague, split up. Play your 15 second commercial over and over again. Have a 45 second version ready too for those who are interested in learning more about your business. Spend two thirds of your time with people you don't know. Don't try and sell your services, focus on building rapport with the people you meet. Collect business cards and make notes on the back of them to jog your memory later when it comes to making further contact with the people you meet. Show genuine interest and get people to talk about themselves. If you get anxious when meeting new people, arm yourself with a checklist of conversation starters such as industry challenges, trends impacting your business, and questions such as "What brings you to this event?" or "Tell me about the customers you like to do business with". End the conversation with "If there's ever anything I can do, please call" and exchange business cards. TENDING YOUR GARDEN As noted earlier, this is the part where most people drop out of the race. Therefore, it's the part where you can gain your greatest competitive advantage. Failure to continuously follow through with people they meet is the number one reason most people never reach their full rainmaking potential. Many people attend functions, meet new people, collect business cards, file them in a Rolodex and wonder why nothing ever happens. In order to succeed in your business, you must not only have a precise understanding of exactly what it is you are selling and to whom, you must also make a commitment to sell it over and over and over again, often to the same person! The average person has to hear a message seven times before they will remember it. Most sales are made after the fifth contact and only ten percent of people have the staying power to make the fifth call. That means that out of a group of 100 competitors, you're only competing against ten of them. The difference between you and the other ten will come down to the effectiveness of your system for maintaining contact with people who can refer you business. Here's how to tend your garden: => Follow Up the Initial Meeting Following your networking activities, you will have in hand a stack of business cards from people you have met. What do you do with them other than filing them in your Rolodex? Write a short note to each person you met that you would like to develop a relationship with. This note should be handwritten, and go something like this: "Dear Rosemary: Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed meeting you at last week's trade association mixer. I am particularly interested in your ideas for expanding into the export market. [See the importance of writing notes on the back of the card.] I have some thoughts of my own that may help you. I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Best, Jack Horner" => Maintaining Contact Then, about two weeks later, call Rosemary and suggest a lunch or breakfast meeting to explore ways the two of you could refer each other business. Invite people you have met to attend social functions such as cocktail parties or other networking events. Make it a point to make contact with every one of your contacts about every two months or so. This could take any number of forms, you need not always invite people to meet. Sometimes sending someone a clipping of an article of mutual interest or a cartoon that you think they will enjoy is all you will do. Other times, you may want to suggest lunch if you haven't seen the person for several months. => Working Your Network Over time, by following the above steps, you will develop a sizeable network and an organized way maintaining contact on a systematic basis will become essential. Establish a system whereby you perform a set number of network development tasks a day, preferably at the same time of day. For example, you could set aside an hour first thing every morning to do your networking tasks. Let's say you have 200 contacts in your network and you want to make contact with each of these contacts at least once every two months. At this rate you will need to contact five people every day (200 contacts divided by 40 working days). All you have to do is make five phone calls between 9:00 am and 10:00 am and you're done. Or, you could make three phone calls, send one note enclosing a copy of the latest article you wrote for an industry publication and meet one person for breakfast or lunch. Some days you will have both breakfast and lunch plans with someone from your contact list. Don't forget you can also kill two birds with one stone by inviting more than one person to lunch. Bring together people from your network who don't already know each other but who could help each other. Who knows who these people know that you haven't met yet? You get the idea. REAPING THE HARVEST As you can hopefully see by now, the key is to keep in regular contact with your network on a consistent basis. Over time, these contacts will become a rich source of referral business for you and your business will grow in leaps and bounds as a result.