The Networking Community Radio Show Presents "A Year in the Life of a Networker"

Comcast Interview

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:11:00 -0700

Darlings, Dependables, and Duds - “Not all contacts are created equal”

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:10:00 -0700

While your networking prospects move through the same five steps to success not all contacts are created equal. That is different types of prospects will ultimately hold different types of value for the networker. I affectionately call these prospect profiles: Darlings, Dependables, and Duds.

Darlings are the sweet spot in your networking community. They generate both strong revenue and strong perceptions. Through they produce high revenue they also require a lot of time and attention. Darlings are high maintenance and as such should only represent 20% of your overall networking customers and prospects.

Dependables are your bread-and-butter - your “cash cows.” They are very efficient. They are the foundation and core of your business. Dependables are perspective prospects and customers with continuing needs that will keep your company profitable. While they don’t have the star appeal of Darlings, they represent the heart of any networking endeavor. Because of this they should represent 70% of your networking community.

Dud is not to imply a networker’s personality but rather Duds do not contribute from a revenue perspective. This does not mean they are insignificant. As an example, they may not produce revenue but through bartering they could provide you with valuable services or allow you to create a testimonial that could ultimately deliver revenue-producing customers. Duds should represent no more that 10% of your networking community.

Networking is not just about starting with the right number of prospects to achieve desired goals - it involves having the right mix of prospect profiles to ensure balanced results.

The problem that some networkers experience is their mix gets skewed – they have too many Darlings and try to keep them all happy or they have too many Duds and can’t keep themselves happy because there is not enough revenue coming in.

The proper balance of contacts and customers in your networking community is the key to keep you financially in balance and happy about networking!

Step 5 - Closing - " Accruing Results"

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:59:00 -0700

The best definition of the close step I have ever heard is; “You don’t do results, you accrue results.” Which means that if you are creating awareness, generating interest, building trust, and developing desire with your networking contacts, your goals will be reached as a natural result of your networking efforts. It’s all in the first four steps of the five step process!

Stephen Convey has great advice for the close step with habit number two in his best seller; Seven Habits of Highly Successful People - “Begin with the end in mind.” Once you establish your networking end goal, you can then establish the number of contacts you will need to create awareness to reach your goal. Contacts to contracts!

The other element required in the close step is to realistically set the amount of time it will take you to reach your end goal. By way of example, if you have set a goal to set up three personal meetings following a networking event your timeline may be three hours. However, if your goal is to close one major account, this may take you an entire year. But the five step process is identical. Only the timeline adjusts based on the complexity of your end result.

Once your end goal is established then it’s all about accruing results.

In the example of targeting one major account within 12 months your accruals may translate to creating awareness (step 1) with 50 contacts of which only 20 may be interested (step 2), from which you build trust (step 3) with 15 contacts that produce five solid prospects that are motivated with desire (step 4) to do business with you.

Of those five contacts and a success rate of 20%, you can expect your goal to be met, perhaps even exceeded if the number of awareness contacts is increased.

Step 4 - Developing Desire - " The Heart of Networking"

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:49:00 -0700

From the book, by Dan Williams

'Tales From The Networking Community'

"Networking, Like Life, is a Process not an Event"

(chapter 29)

Now Available on Amazon.com

People justify that you are trustworthy in their “heads” but ultimately the decision to refer you business comes from their “hearts.”

The motivation that comes with Desire (Step 4) can only be generated after successfully moving though the first three stages of Awareness (Step 1), Interest (Step 2), and Trust (Step 3).

According to the physiologists, we develop the desire to do business with others by experiencing the following traits and characteristics in them (spelled out with the acronym CLASS-R):

C onsistency
L ikeability
A uthority
S ocial status
S carcity

Last but not least is Reciprocity, which is all about putting your desires aside and helping your fellow networker with their desires. Why does helping others bring about reciprocity?

We all have survival skills. Our first survival skill is taking care of ourselves. If you can put that on the back burner and worry about someone else – figure out how you can help them - you won’t ever have to worry about creating your own financial security and independence. They will do it for you.

It sounds good, like motherhood and apple pie. But why does it work?

Here’s why. When someone buys you lunch, you feel obliged [VJH2] to do so as well. . When a doorman opens a door and takes your luggage to your room even though you didn’t want him to, you feel obligated to pay him a tip.

This is the key to networking. When you go out and unselfishly help others with their business, they are going to be left with a strong feeling of desire to repay the favor.

The desire step can best be summed up with the quote, “They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Building Trust - "Time Takes Time"

Fri, 18 May 2007 07:24:00 -0700

This segment is taken from TNC's five step process for networking, Step 3, which is the Trust step and is entitled; Building Trust - "Time Takes Time."

The power of the networking step process is that it allows you to take baby steps which gradually builds trust over time. And time takes time. Consider this metric in this 21st century economy of marketing clutter, as but one example: Because we are only paying attention 20% of the time, it takes 45 impressions just to create awareness (Step 1). This is why frequency and consistency rule if you want to build trusted relationships.

When there is interest expressed (Step 2) you can then advance to the next stage and begin to build trust (Step 3). Trust begins with doing what you say you will do. If you say you will follow-up and don’t, how can anyone trust that your promise of delivering services will be any different? To build trust you need to demonstrate consistently that you are capable and competent.

In networking you develop a reputation for being trustworthy or untrustworthy through your actions. Trust is established over time based how dependable we are. Do our actions match our words? When the need arises, you can then deepen the trust, perhaps through a proposal that includes your company background, testimonials, case studies, and value-based services delivered at competitive rates.

A trusted referral through networking is so powerful because you are borrowing the trust that your referral source has taken THEIR time to build. This will then allow you to drastically collapse the time to build YOUR trust. Building trust is a necessary step and networking through trusted referrals will allow you to more quickly achieve your desired goal.

It’s not entirely true that people do business with people they like. People do business with people they like and trust.

Generating Interest - Sincere & Genuine

Thu, 1 Mar 2007 18:34:00 -0800

The foundation for networking is to have a systematic plan. John Paul Getty had a very simple plan for success. It was;

1. "get up early"
2. "work hard"
3. "find oil"

Good plan, however the only problem is that he doesn't tell us how we can; Find Oil.

TNC's system for finding oil or advancing contacts into contracts consists of five fundamental steps. In previous episodes of "A Year in the Life of a Networker", I shared about the first step; "Creating Awareness." This month's episode is all about step two from TNC's five step networking process - "Generating Interest."

The best philosophy for generating interest is based on a quote from my favorite book on networking entitled; "How to Win Friends and Influence People". It's legendary author, Dale Carnegie said; "It is easier to win more friends in two months by expressing a sincere interest in others, than in two years by trying to get other people interested in you". But keep in mind that you have to be specific and sincere in networking when asking questions to elicit interest. I was once asked at a networking event by a person I hadn't seen in a couple months, this opening question; Hi Dan, Bring me up to date on the rest of your life." The more precise you can be with your interest questions the more credible and sincere you will be perceived. Again, you need to be sincerely and genuinely interested.

Here are three specific questions to help you share a sincere interest in your fellow networker;

1. Can you name a couple of organizations that you belong to?

2. What was your most difficult business decision in the last year and what made it so difficult?

3. If you could share one piece of advice you have learned to make networking more effective, what would it be?

You will find with approach that you not only will get people talking about their favorite topic; themselves, but you will be able to win friends and influence people to be interested in you.

Creating Awareness - The Lombardi Way!

Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:07:00 -0800

With our soon-to-be-crowned super bowl winner receiving the "Lombardi Trophy", I thought it appropriate that we "kick-off" our first monthly 2007 radio episode with; "Creating Awareness, "The Lombardi Way".

Most likely you've heard this story before. It has become legendary. The Green Bay Packer franchise had been losing for almost ten straight years. They were at the bottom of the standings, and morale was sagging.

Enter Vince Lombardi as the new coach. He is charged with the challenge of turning this franchise around, and he's all pumped up about it. He began leading practices, inspiring, training, motivating. But at one point in a practice, he just got so frustrated with what was going on with the players that he blew the whistle.

"Everybody stop and gather around," he said. Then he knelt down, picked up the pigskin, and said, "Let's start at the beginning. This is a football. These are the yard markers. I'm the coach. You are the players." He went on, in the most elementary of ways, to explain the basics of football.

Using the "Lombardi Way" of explaining networking, it all begins with the fundamental first step of "Creating Awareness."

Seems simple enough but like Vince Lombardi's Spartan philosophy of winning football games, it takes hard work.

With our first month of the 2007 series; "A Year in the Life of a Networker", I wanted to convey that awareness, the first step in TNC's five step networking process is not a one time event. It's a process, not an event.

It takes lots of frequency to create awareness. In fact, it takes 45 impressions over time to create effective awareness. Because of all the distractions in today's 21st century economy, your message is being heard only once every five times. So for every 45 times that you are creating awareness, the person on the other side of the conversation is only listening 20% of the time. This means that it takes nine different impressions of awareness for you to just obtain the first step in networking.

One-on-one networking is the most powerful means for creating awareness. Nothing beats being up front and personal for creating impressions. However, in-between your personal networking, "life happens" and you and your message are soon drowned out with the other 3,000 + messages, we as consumers receive each day.

So, with your networking awareness campaigns build-in a means to touch base to maintain "top of mind" awareness when you are not there.

Perhaps this could be a newsletter that provides relevant, personalized and useful information. This will additionally set you apart as an expert in your field.

In today's e-world, hand written notes have a huge impact. If you are going to send an email, find an article or subject matter of specific interest. It's the baby steps that count most in creating awareness.

Vince Lombardi's tradition of excellence and winning football games was achieved through consistency. With networking your first step of creating awareness is an ongoing series of impressions that will ultimately make you a networking winner.

The "coach" also has another quote; "Football is a game of inches and inches make a champion."

And so networking is a game of impressions and these awareness impressions over time, will make you a networking champion.