When should I offer a 'freebie'?

I was having a 1-2-1 meeting with a new NRG member, who was in the Internet Services business. He asked me "I never know whether it's OK to offer a free traffic analysis of their website to someone I've met when networking - I'm worried they'll think me pushy and think it's a sales ploy."

My answer was that it depended on how you set the scene. I thought it was fine if you introduced the offer in the context that you were trying to increase your visibility in business, really wanted to educate people you met about what you did and the best way was to show them - hence the offer.

The key thing in business networking is to make sure the offer is without strings - none of us likes to feel beholden.

Good networking!

Martin Davies

What’s your NRG? Part Two.

In “What’s your NRG? Part One” I introduced the concept of Networking Reliability Grade, the trust levels required for different value networking transactions.

These levels move from 1 to 6. NRG level 1 is where no trust is required and NRG level 6 is where complete trust is required. These NRG levels indicate increasing levels of trust. These levels with an example of a networking transaction for each:

NRG Level 1 – Swap business cards at a networking event
NRG Level 2 - Arrange an informal meeting to get to know each other
NRG Level 3 - Invite someone to come along to your regular networking group
NRG Level 4 - Actively look for potential referral opportunities for a contact
NRG Level 5 - Arrange a meeting to introduce 2 of your contacts to each other
NRG Level 6 - Provide a testimonial for a contact to another trusted contact

Putting this all together gives us an insight into the strategies employed in building trusted business relationships and ultimately a network of advocates. More on that later…

If you know anyone who attends lots of networking events & collects lots of business cards, but is getting nowhere then they are operating almost entirely at NRG level 1.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

What’s your NRG? Part One.

In this context NRG stands for Networking Reliability Grade and is used for the trust levels identified as key stages in the business networking research we did a couple of years ago.

The ultimate in relationship networking is when someone introduces you to a prospect for your product or service and introduces you as the person they simply must do business with. An ‘advocate’ introduction of this sort will only happen when you have built a business relationship based on complete trust.

In the research we established that trust is built through networking transactions and as the transaction value increases it is necessary for your trustworthiness or Networking Reliability Grade (NRG) to increase. Providing you perform well during networking transactions your NRG increases.

NRG levels move from 1 to 6. NRG level 1 is where no trust is required and NRG level 6 is where complete trust is required.

An example of a networking transaction where you only need NRG level 1 would be a simple introduction at an event.

An example of a networking transaction where you need NRG level 6 would be the ultimate described above.

I’ll introduce the other levels and some examples over the coming days together with what you have to do to move from NRG Level 1 to NRG Level 6.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Hey this networking stuff really does work....

Just found this post from Phil Parr of the branding agency twentyfive on Ecademy; "Hey this networking stuff really does work...."

Phil said, "After 18 months of hard networking, doing the lunches, going to the breakfasts, making time for 1-2-1 meetings and presenting seminars, I am finally starting to get referrals in to companies that are not only right in terms of size and turnover but are ready to do the serious deep level branding that we do!

I have to admit to a bit of a crisis in confidence a couple of months ago - I even thought of cutting right back on the activity (it just seemed like so much effort with no reward) but I stuck in there and it's proved to be the right decision.

So all you people out there who may be wavering - here's my advice: Stick it out, it may take some time, but the referrals are out there."

Phil's absolutely right. It does take time to build relationships and your reputation, but that's where it pays off. I suspect if all he had been doing were the meetings then he would still be waiting.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

It's who you know!

I am writing this after just collecting my laptop from a friend...

I live about 80 miles West of London and often get the train to attend meetings and events there. Yesterday morning I attended the launch of a new business in Central London. I had a meeting arranged in Reading (Berkshire) at lunchtime so I parked in Reading and got the train to and from London. On the return journey I left my bag on the train.

I called the train company with no luck. I called their lost property company and then the station with the final destination (Bristol). I learned that I wouldn't be able to find out until at least 6 hours later whether the bag had been handed in or not. I called my wife to get the number of a friend of ours who is a train driver with the train company concerned. By coincidence he was on his way to Bristol to start work and got there as my bag was being delivered to the lost property office. Panic over. A couple of weeks ago I helped him with a problem with a new computer and the beers were on him. The beers are definitely on me this time :-)

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Simple rule of thumb guide to networking 2

I've been thinking about a previous post, a simple rule of thumb guide to networking. In it I recalled a post on ecademy where I had written: "Ask yourself what you would like people in your Network to do for you, then take the initiative and do it for them".

In some instances people may not want what you want so a better rule of thumb might be:

"Ask yourself what people in your Network would like, then take the initiative and do it for them"

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Truth or Delusion

I attended an excellent presentation from Ivan Misner the founder of BNI yesterday. The theme of Truth or Delusion was from his new book on networking which sounds a great read. I think I'll probably refer to a few of his comments in time, but one of his points reminded me of a previous post of mine here>>>.

He presented a number of points and asked the audience if they were Truth or Delusion. The 2nd one was "You have to be an extrovert to be successful at Networking, Truth or Delusion". The answer of course - Delusion. Introverts tend to be better listeners and this is a key skill in successful networking. Use your 2 ears & 1 mouth in the right proportion.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Practising what your preach

I attended an all day business networking event yesterday. The event was to launch the Apprentice Programme from Business in Berkshire. This is a mentoring programme to match new businesses with more established businesses in the Berkshire area.

I spoke in the morning about 'How Networking Works' and then stayed to listen to the other presenters and to meet and talk with people during the day.

At the end someone said to me it's great to see you practise what you talked about earlier in the day.

It's important when building your reputation to not only say what you should be doing, but to do it too.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Networking is all about managing your reputation!

I was talking to an IFA and an insolvency practitioner at a networking meeting a couple of days ago. The IFA was bemoaning the fact that he had only one (free) meeting with a prospective client before he expected them to sign up. The relationship building had to go a long way in one meeting!

So we talked about how networking helps this relationship building process. We came to the conclusion that networking is all about creating and managing your reputation. Over time, if you network effectively, your reputation goes before you. If you are introduced by someone who rates you by them saying "you must meet John before you make any decision about which IFA to choose" your reputation is working hard for you. When you do have that first meeting it then becomes much easier to make the prospect feel comfortable and to create the right relationship fast!

So think about your networking activity and ask yourself the question "Is this improving my reputation?"

Good networking!

Martin Davies

Corporate Networking

In this post here >>> Andy Lopata shares some insights into current Networking thinking in Corporates. He interviewed Jeff Schick, the vice president of social computing software for IBM Corporation in New York, who described a software initiative, 'Lotus Connections' based on their own internal systems.

There appear to be 2 strands when referring to Corporates & Networking - internal & external networking.

1. Internal networking
Perhaps the IBM inititative suggests they know that networking is the way it all works anyway so why not make it more efficient. I remember talking to Keith Willett of Sanderson & Neale about some software tools that they use with Corporates. They have a product called networker to establish the real lines of communication and influence within a business. Definitely not the world according to the org chart.

2. External networking
I often get asked why Corporates don't attend networking events. Often the question is asked by someone who wants to sell to larger companies and this reveals some confusion about what networking really is. Networking is not selling and you are not going to get Corporate representatives flocking to somewhere to be sold too. On the other hand Corporates (banks, insurance, telecoms etc) often see the small business networks as places where their customers congregate and send their salespeople (to sell!) or sponsor their own or other events.

My experience is that Corporates do network externally. Mainly with their peers, and in places where they see it as appropriate to engage. An example of this is with Industry specific networks. When I was in the Telecoms Industry I belonged to the UK based Telecommunications Executive Network. Three quarters of that community are CEO/Director/VP.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke