Is Your Network Working?

Network? My computers are linked and talking to each other so, yeah, I guess my network is working.

Nahhhhhhh, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m asking you about your business contacts and the way you get clients to use your company. One of the first people to coin the phrase as Dr. Ivan Misner, the creator of Business Network International; what he meant by this term was a way that people connect to each other and send out referrals or recommendations. It is believed that each person, between family, friends and business colleagues, has at least a minimum of 200 contacts. When you share those contacts with one other person, and his or her 200 contacts, you’ve just multiplied the number of people who you have in your contact list. The idea spreads out from there.

The idea of networking then is taking this concept and applying it at a much smaller level. When you form relationships with people that include feelings of trust and consideration, you have the start of a good network.

If you check out Google, you will see hundreds of items that pertain to business networking and the various groups that are out there – they range from Chamber of Commerce after hours meetings, organizations such as Kiwanis, Rotary, and other of this type of group, to formal sit down groups that meet each week with the specific goal of finding and referring business to the other members.

Even if you’ve never heard of business networking, I can guarantee that you are a networker. You have contacts that you talk to about your product or service. You have customers. You have colleagues and even competitors. How do you put these networks into play? First, I would suggest that it is better to give than to receive. Put yourself in the place of your potential “partners”. Don’t you feel good when they provide you with a referral to someone that wants to provide you with business? Sure you do. Doesn’t it then make you want to give something back? The same is true with networking. The recent movie, Paying It Forward, says it all. If you do something good, they will try to give you something back. It’s much better than if you’re always telling everybody what you want, and never asking them about their needs or goals, isn’t it?

Finally, once you’ve started to develop these relationships, I would suggest that you find, build and maintain about 6 relationships with people who are at the same or higher competency level as you. These people become your informal board of advisors and will be able to work with you when you need outside opinions and support. Never forget however, that you need to be there for them as well. The “Give to Get” concept is one that works when you use it in an honest, creative way. Try it and see where you get!