“First, you have to be visible in the community. You have to get out there and connect with people. It’s not called net-sitting or net-eating. It’s called networking. You have to work at it.” Said Dr. Ivan Misner, the founder of NYC.
As your NYC 62 visiting professor during this month of graduations, I want to continue to help you graduate from simple networking to business development.
How did you do with last week’s pop quiz?
This week, let’s do another one.
Question 1: Who do you “network” with? Make a list of the last 3 networking opportunities you acted on and attended. These will show you how you are choosing to invest in your net-working. Look at the date of your last networking activity. If it was more than 3 months ago, it may be time to up your ante and get out there more.
Question 2: Who is looking for the same people you are? For example, for a few weeks, Lisa Skye and Andrew Kahner were both looking for doctors and dentists. So has Kelly Tealdi. Just because someone isn’t in the same sphere you are, such as real estate, wedding, marketing, construction or another one, doesn’t mean they aren’t looking to meet the same people you are. Listen to who people are looking to meet and see if you can both assist them with meeting them and learn how they are meeting them so you can meet them too.
Question 3: What do you leave behind or follow-up with when someone has offered to make a referral for you? Write up blurbs for others to use to introduce you to who they know. This articulates for them what you do and why you are a good solution for a prospective client or how you can work effectively with a strategic alliance referral.
The secret? Pre-write these so you have them ready for your top tier referral types so you can simply drop the appropriate one in your follow-up email.
Building your business takes thought, commitment, accountability and, most of all, action.
May today’s quiz make you think more about how you can effectively work your networking so you can take your efforts and business to the next level.
