The Power of Networking - Part 146

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 146

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. February 2010

I have one particular friend (let’s call her Jane) who consistently refers me to people. Quite honestly, in the last two months alone she has sent 3 entrepreneurs to me. Strangely enough, she only has a slight inkling of what it is that I do, but she has read some of my articles in the newspaper and the result of that is the minute she comes into contact with someone who owns a business, she insists that they have to meet me and we need to ‘talk’! Now that’s the kind of friends we all want, I am sure you would agree.

Here’s the thing though, the people who we are most familiar with, and I am talking about family and friends, are often the ones that very seldom give us referrals. Apparently this is because with family and friends the relationships that we have with them is of a more personal nature and because of this it often does not even occur to them to refer business to you, unless you specifically make a point of asking for it or reminding them.

On of the biggest problems, I am led to believe, is that although your friends and family love you and think the world of you, they have also seen you at your absolute worst and they may not be comfortable with referring you to one of their friends ‘in case’ you embarrass them. In some cases, no matter how much they respect, admire and even trust you, they do not want to mix business with personal relationships. Even worse, many may not understand how to refer you.

This ‘non-understanding’ may not be confined to family and friends either – many of our colleagues and indeed, people who we see at Networking meetings all the time, may not have the slightest idea of how to ‘refer’ business to you.

Networking individuals who are inexperienced, often don’t think about looking for referrals except through their existing customers and whilst getting those referrals is not a bad thing, it does mean that the number of referrals that they get and/or give is seriously limited. On the other hand there are some very experienced Networkers who go to Networking meetings on a regular basis and they think that the only referrals they are going to get will come from the people and/or members that they encounter at the meetings. That’s also limiting yourself badly.

In order to get the most out of Networking, you have to put the most in and that means that you have to lead by example. You have to refer business to your colleagues, your friends, your family and also strangers that you have just met. By doing this you demonstrate a ‘willingness’ to share information and add value to their lives and pretty soon they will start sharing with you too.

You also need to remind people on a constant basis, that you are always looking for business and there are many ways to do this. Keeping in touch by means of say a Newsletter, reminds people that you are out and about. Asking for testimonials is also a good way to not only remind the person giving you the testimonial, what a good job you did for them, but letting others see those testimonial shows people that you can be trusted too.

So get busy today, remind people who you are and don’t forget to ‘ask’ people to refer you. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za