Networking with Decision Makers

"I need to be networking with decision makers and budget holders" or something similar is a phrase I hear often. It is often a result of a misconceived idea about networking. The idea that networking is about finding a room full of prospects, exchanging business cards then moving on to the next. That is not networking, it is selling.

Business networking is about building relationships with your peers so that over time you help, support and introduce each other to opportunities to sell your services. Over time you build trust through a series of exchanges or networking transactions. The people you meet in business networking are decision makers and the route to those budget holders you want to meet. They are constantly making decisions about whether they like you, trust you and are prepared to refer you.

The quickest way to get them to make a negative decision is to constantly sell to them. In short, as I have said and written before, networking is not selling!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Does Your Selling have the Partnership approach?

Many business owners and professionals are strangers to the world of selling and can run into problems with a misunderstanding of the approach required. Richard White's The Accidental Salesman® is often a very apt description. Successful selling is not about being pushy and looking to 'close' everyone you meet. The best networkers are very clear about what they do and for who - their target market. They are friendly, helpful and constantly looking for opportunities to connect their network with people, knowledge & opportunities. They also understand that people will buy from them when they are good and ready and adopt the same approach of helping and educating prospects.

I attended an excellent Client Attraction Techniques Masterclass from Small Business Marketing Expert Nigel Temple yesterday. I am sure Nigel's stuff will inspire a good few blogs in the days ahead. He touched on the psychology behind the new sales & marketing several times. A powerful illustration was the experience of shopping at the John Lewis Partnership. The Sales Assistants there are truly deserving of that 'assistant' title. They are`there to assist us in making an informed buying choice. Always ready to answer questions and leaving us with the decision at all times. They understand something I learned from a Sandler trainer about Newton's Third Law and the way it also applies in selling. The law of reciprocal actions states, 'To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions'. If you try and push someone to buy something they will push back. I know what my reaction is when I get pounced on as I walk through a shop door.

Nigel suggested spending some time in John Lewis watching them in action. Not a bad idea if you have the time.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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Do you spend too much time meeting new people?

In a couple of seminars and One2One sessions this week we have discussed the amount of time spent on Networking. We have then broken that down into time spent in different aspects of networking:

1. Meeting new people
2. Getting to know existing contacts better
3. Spending time with your Inner Network
4. Building trust with your close contacts or advocates

Most people agree that before people buy from you or refer you they need to know, like and trust you and that takes time. You need to meet first, but then you need to keep meeting the people you like to really get to know them and build that trust.

The people I discussed this with during the week were spending nearly all their networking time on meeting new people with almost no time left for the most important relationship stuff. Getting to know the people they like and have already met. Then building trust with the ones they know and like.

Do you need look at your networking time?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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Networking is still not about selling

I have blogged before that networking is not selling yet I still meet people at networking events that are intent on selling to the room. I was at an event the other day where a couple of people were complaining that they had got clients the first couple of times they attended, but those sorts of people didn't come any more.

What a shock. They were probably put off by people selling to them all the time. As I often write networking is not about selling directly. If you build relationships in the right way then you don't have to sell. Your network does it for you!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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Is the idea of a sales funnel now outdated?

In 'McKinsey: Shooting holes in the Sales Funnel' Bob Apollo writes about an article in a recent McKinsey Quarterly review on the consumer decision journey.

Bob writes how the conclusions can equally be applied to the B2B buying process. As Bob says "the increasing importance of word of mouth, recommendation and reputation in the B2B buying process has transferred information power into the hands of the prospect".

I have reported similar findings on the increasing importance of word of mouth previously. So if you are in the the B2B or B2C space make sure that you have a strategy for influencing the people your prospects turn to for this word of mouth.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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More on the difference between networking and selling

In 'Do you know enough people already?' I wrote about the different reaction of two Professionals to the same networking group. In one of the comments Andrew Sansom said he suspected that one was really selling.

If you are looking for business today from the people you meet, that is selling. Successful networking builds your business for tomorrow. This podcast explains the difference in approach between selling and successful networking.

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Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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No problem selling once you find the right person?

In a One2One meeting last week the management consultant I was with said "I have no problem with selling once I get in front of the right person". In the last few years that is probably a sentence I have heard more often than any other. In fact I recorded a podcast on the subject, 'Your target market – Who is your right person?'. Have a listen here:

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Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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