about networking skills, and I wonder if people think that it doesn't apply to them, because they don't “go” networking. But it does. And they do.
You can't squeeze an onion online
Something that people ask me a lot is whether online networking and social media will mean that there is no need for face-to-face networking in the future. Whether business networking has, will or should move completely online.
I'm a member of lots of online forums and this question comes up very regularly: whether face-to-face networking is “dead” in a social world. Typically, it's a conversation I regularly start because I'm interested in people's opinions.
Overwhelmingly, people from all professions, trades and industries still choose to meet people. Despite all of the technological advances there have been, people still want to “press the flesh” and shake hands with someone before they do business with them; it seems as though we are hardwired that way. In fact someone recently commented that if they absolutely can't meet one of their networking contacts, mainly due to geography, then they will Skype or FaceTime them. They went on to say that even in these instances, where they can be virtually in the same room with someone, it “just isn't as good” as physically being with them in person. Those small nuances of body language and facial expression are lost even when we can see someone in glorious 1080p HD.
I try to explain the phenomenon to people, and then, out of the blue, a friend of mine called Martin Warrillow got talking about his shopping habits on Facebook.
To cut a long story short, Martin was asked why he doesn't do his grocery shopping online and his response was that his wife says that “you can't squeeze an onion online”.
So what's the relationship between online onions and business networking?
You can achieve so much these days using social media and online marketing. You can assemble your crowd and create and nurture your prospects. You can research and engage with people you might want to do business with.
But you can't squeeze an onion online. For so many of us, what we sell needs us to have a relationship with our clients. Our clients need to have seen the whites of our eyes and got to know us a little bit before they are ready to do business. That feeling of knowing the person, rather than just the proposal, is what can often make the difference. That trust that comes from meeting someone in person and getting a “gut feel” for them makes every other conversation so much easier.
You might now decide to tweet me to tell me that you don't ever need to meet the people who buy your services or products, and you conduct all your business online. I completely accept that and how there are plenty of business models and businesses where you can sell a product or service directly to the consumer via a well-optimized online shop. I maintain though that there are plenty of businesses where you do need to squeeze the onion, where you do need to meet someone, shake their hand, have a coffee and get to know them before any business will progress.
Would you use an accountant or solicitor you didn't know and trust? And there are loads more professions and businesses where the same applies. Particularly those who give professional advice.
This is, to me, why business networking is such a shortcut. So much of our other marketing activity is designed to put us in the position where we are in direct contact with a prospect. Networking cuts straight to the point and puts you in touch with the people you want to meet straight away. Often sitting opposite them at a breakfast table where you have a chance to build the “warm” relationship before you move onto business.
But what if there aren't the right people in the room? I want to make sure I get straight to the decision makers!
When you prospect do you always get to the right person straight away? Or do you sometimes have a few wasted phone calls and even meetings first?
A networking environment puts you in the position where you can tell a lot of people about your business (advertise) and then actively target the people you want to speak to both in the room (in one to ones) and outside the room (referrals).
Network enough, and effectively enough, and you're giving people an opportunity to squeeze the onion before they buy it.
Is “instant” networking really possible?
So, is it possible then, or even desirable, to “instantly” improve your networking? Could you do stuff that would “instantly” make a difference?
Yes, I believe you can. I believe pretty much anyone can make changes and take actions right now that could result in a sale today, or at least move you much closer to making a sale today. Or maybe several sales. It depends on how much time and effort you choose to put in.
People do tell me, quite regularly, that networking doesn't “work”, that they've tried it and it didn't work for their business. Sometimes even though there are plenty of people in the same business as them, who also go networking, it does “work” for them. So, we can take from this that there are some people who appear to be “better” at networking than others, maybe better than you feel you are.
I've had people say to me that they “tried” social media, but the return on investment wasn't good enough for them.
It's true that some of these relationships can be very long term, that the right opportunity just might not have been there yet. But it's also true that you can speed up the process whereby people trust you enough to do business with you or refer business to you.
In 4Networking that process is referred to as the Meet–Like–Know–Trust relationship. These are the inevitable steps that people take after they Meet you, they then decide whether they Like you or not (more on this later), then over time (or maybe a different measure) they get to Know you as the relationship deepens. Finally, they hopefully then decide whether they Trust you enough to part with their cash, or refer others to you to part with their cash.
In networking we talk about this process taking time. It is often thought that you have to wait for each part of the process to develop over time.
But I spent the first part of my career working in shops as a Saturday boy, and then a large part of my career as an estate agent and I learned how small changes in my behaviour or actions could have an instant impact on my results (sales). I have also spent time training retail staff and watching their results improve.
In the shops in which I worked, we had a very limited window of opportunity. From the moment someone walked into our shop, until the moment they left, we had to build that Meet–Like–Know–Trust relationship. Our ideal scenario was that they would come in with a desire to buy something and leave having bought that thing, and hopefully other things from us. We had the distinct advantage that they had chosen to come in, which showed they must have given some thought to buying something. It was then down to us to make sure that this happened and that we developed the trust (usually in less than 20 minutes), so that not only did they buy the products, but we could also suggest some other purchase – the skill of “upselling”.
In my estate agency career, we would be asked to “value” a house or flat and very often the homeowner would invite several estate agents to do the same. Therefore, from the moment we knocked on their door, straightened our tie (yep, I did used to dress properly) and waited for the door to open, until the moment we left an hour later, we had to build the Meet–Like–Know–Trust relationship sufficiently, so that they would choose to give us their property to sell over and above the competition.
And some people were better at selling shoes, some people were
