Over the years, I’ve refined my approach to networking. I’ve kept some things, discarded others. By now, after some 30 years in sales, I’ve instilled the essence of my experience into my “Top 10 Tips,” which are listed below. These are, in my opinion, 10 clear steps to better networking:
1. There’s no way around it—you have to network with everyone. You have to network at your kid’s school, when you go out to eat, and even when you stop at highway tollbooths. Give your business card to everyone you meet. Ask everyone for an order and/or referral.
2. When you network, give something to everybody. Your gift can be a business card or brochure, a flower, or even candy. Here’s an example: Once upon a time, I parked my car with a valet. He showed me a brochure I had given him during a previous visit. It really got me excited that he had saved my brochure and knew exactly where he kept it, so I looked in my truck and gave him a copy of an inspirational book called The Platinum Rule by Art Fettig, which I routinely give to hundreds of people a year. People remember you more often if you hand them something.
3. Don’t be afraid of being a little silly or unconventional. When I go to a sports event, I’ve been know to throw a thousand business cards into the stands. Does even one of those cards ever come back to me as an order? I’ll never know. But it sure feels great to know so many people have been exposed to my name.
4.
When you attend service club meetings like Rotary, don’t always sit with the same five friends. I know you feel more comfortable sitting with familiar faces. But unless you network more widely, you’ll be limiting your opportunities to those same five people.
Most service clubs have rules against giving your business cards except on specific occasions. They may fine you for openly asking for business because these clubs are supposed to be more social. But I’ve found that the more fines I paid, the more business I got. I just hand out my cards all the time at service clubs and cheerfully pay my fines. It’s a great form of cheap advertising.
5. Referrals work from the top down, not the bottom up. A boss may pass along the name of a salesman to an employee, but it usually doesn’t happen the other way around. So when you network, try to network at the highest level possible. If you’re networking car dealers, for example, network the dealership owner before the guy in the body shop. The owner will be in a better position to pass your name along to others.
6. Join or start your own tip or lead club. Tip or lead clubs meet every week, and their members try to generate leads for each other. I’ve joined some lead clubs and started some. You’ll get lots of ideas from them and you can network with the other members.
7. Churches can be great places to network. You’ve got an entire organization of people with like-minded beliefs. Try to put your ad in their weekly bulletin or newsletter. In fact, offer to pay for producing and mailing it in exchange for free ad space. It’s worth every penny.
8. You’ve got to be seen at all the major events. At my level, I go to so many events—fund-raisers, community holiday parties, charitable events—it’s hard to know which ones bring in new business. But I am convinced that every time I attend one of these events, especially if some radio personality interviews me, it adds to the bottom line in some way.
9. Have a house account with restaurants where you can sign for meals and get billed monthly. That way, maybe 10 different people at the restaurant see your name on the bill—the waiter, the cashier, the house accountant, secretaries, managers, everyone. And when you pay your bill, include your card or brochure.
10. Get other people to network for you. When I buy clothes, I tell the salespeople that the more successful I am, the more other people will ask me where I buy clothes, so it’s in their best interest to network on my behalf. There’s a shoeshine man in Detroit who automatically gives out my brochure every time someone getting a shoeshine mentions buying or selling a home.