| Company Expert's B2B Forum

Just as you would prepare for a business meeting, you need to prepare to attend a networking event.

* Put monthly attendance on your calendar and pay for the event. By paying in advance, you create a commitment. (If you haven't paid, you might decide not to show up.)
* Set a goal for each networking event. If there's someone in particular you want to meet, make sure you get introduced. Or perhaps you want to take away specific business tips from the speaker or meet a client.
* Travel solo. If you go with someone you know, split up, so that you both can meet new people. You can't put referral networking into place if you stay with the people you already know.
* Plan your personal introduction. How will you introduce yourself in a way that's intriguing and will make people want to hear more about what you do? Create a short, five-second “blurb” that engages your audience. (For example, a colleague of mine is a content strategist, writer, and editor. Her intro blurb is: “Making the world a better place, one word at a time.” It's light-hearted, easy to understand, and opens the door to a conversation.)
* Prepare insightful questions. Always have a few questions prepared to begin a conversation. You could ask if other attendees have been to this business networking event before, or have heard the speaker before, or you could comment on something in the news — just stay away from politics.

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Re: Business referal networking

Giving and servicing provide joy and satisfaction when we network from the heart and not the head. Stress and anxiety are reduced when we stop focusing on ourselves and focus on helping others. Also, read other books on this topic. Understand the power and rewards of unselfish networking. In fact, while reading Harvey Mackay's book Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, I came across Mackay's Maxims. I was inspired to write and share with you my own versions.

Marsh Mantras! Words to Build a Network - and Life

* Your reputation is your most valuable possession. It is your biggest asset for successful networking.
* The #1 way to reduce fear of networking is to change your focus from what I can get to what I can give.
* Before any networking function plan the number of connections you will make for people in your network.
* Being a go-giver is more conducive to building long term relationships than being a go-getter.
* Go out on a limb, that's where the fruit is!
* One of the best ways to reduce stress about your livelihood is to focus on helping some people enhance their livelihood.
* One truth about life is that life keeps giving us the same lessons until we learn them.
* If you're in a referral-sharing group, like BNI, only to get referrals, you're in the wrong group Ivan Misner, Founder & CEO, says "Givers Gain!"
* People do business with people they know and like. They will continue to do business when they trust and respect you.
* The best listeners make the best networkers. When you respond to a prospective referral's need, through listening, by providing a solution through someone from your network, you become a powerful ally.
* Have a positive expectancy that the referrals you give will provide you with many blessings.
* Have no expectation about what you will receive in return. Your blessings could come in another area where it's needed just as much. The universal law of reciprocity is as real as the law of gravity!

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Posted : 13/04/2010 4:30 am