Great networkers are good networkers who have just taken their craft a little bit further. In the world of business, networking is crucial. You might be outward facing with a sales angle to you role, trying to hit targets and create business opportunities. You might have a number of stakeholders and partners to build relationships with. You might be internally focused but ambitious, planning moves up the corporate ladder and needing to build your professional profile.
Whatever the reason, good business networking skills are vital for serious business professionals looking for maximum reach, profile and influence. Here are five of the top traits of the best professional, profitable and productive networkers:
So many people attend business networking events, participate in online business networks and have networking meetings. But what do they get back from all of that time and effort? The answer is usually very little. They struggle when it comes to turning networking into business. To explore this, I use the phrase 'CTC' in my many networking and referral seminars. It stands for any of the following:
- Card to Client
- Contact to Customer
- Card to Connection
- Connection to Client
You get the idea. It's about turning a business card into a sale. It's about converting your networking leads into paying customers and clients. It's also the hardest thing for most networking business people to do. Here's why:
Read a useful blog recently on influence by Darren Hardy which reminded me of Jim Rohn's quote: "You become the combined average of the five people you hang around the most. You will have the combined attitude, health and income of the five people you hang around the most." Brian Tracy said something similar: "Your income will be the average of the ten closest people to you."
As Hardy says: "The people we spend our time with determine what conversations dominate our attention, and what observations, attitudes and opinions we repetitively are introduced to."