Networking Tips - Introduce Your Customers to Each Other for Their Benefit By Josh Hinds

We hear the term "do business with those who do business with us" all the time. I think that's a statement worth considering.

You see, as it relates to networking look at the commonly accepted definition of networking which states: networking is simply developing mutually beneficial relationships with others -- be they personally, professionally, or a combination of both.

The idea makes sense if you really give it some thought...

If you believe in one of your vendors or service providers enough to use them, doesn't it also make sense that you should naturally be on the lookout to help them grow their respective businesses by referring them to other folks you know (i.e. those in your network, even among your own clients and customers) as the opportunity to do so arises? Sure it does.

Doesn't it also stand to reason that the vendors you use should want to make a point of doing the same for you? After all, doesn't your accountant, family physician, lawyer, or for that matter just about anyone you choose to honor by being their customer have a vested interest in your business also growing and becoming prosperous? I think so -- yet I'm constantly amazed by how many lost opportunities to do so go by the wayside because neither party has made a solid commitment to keeping the best interest in mind of the people they themselves do business with.

Allow me to share an example which should further illustrate the importance of what we're talking about...

Recently I was speaking to a friend who happens to run a local business in my area. He mentioned that he had a piece of commercial property, an office space that he was looking to rent.

He mentioned that up to this point the advertisement he placed for it in the local newspaper had resulted in a big fat goose egg in the number of leads (for those unfamiliar with the term it means it had produced none, as in zero results).

I really wasn't surprised that going that route hadn't yielded satisfactory results. However, I was surprised that he hadn't thought to tap his network (friends, colleagues, and associates he'd already forged some type of win, win relationship with) for help though.

We came up with a solution based on an idea which I'd heard about that had been used effectively, which I believed would yield similar results for my friend.

The solution we came up with was based on an example I'd heard about where a local attorney would always make a point of asking how he could help his clients (beyond the obvious things related to the service he offered).

He would go as far as playing the part of match maker between his clients for their own genuine benefit. He made a point of matching the needs of his clients -- by tapping the products and services which his existing clients had to offer.

While it is true that the intent in helping his clients was not for his direct benefit -- indirectly he was being rewarded by putting their needs first.

Here are several examples of how putting his clients first yielded positive returns:

1. he was viewed more favorably in the marketplace for having matched two of his clients together who needed what each had to offer, but likely wouldn't have connected on without the introduction from the clever attorney.

2. by placing a focus on improving the revenue of his clients he in turn increases the likelihood that both clients will grow and prosper, and in turn be around longer so that they can remain as his clients.

3. By becoming known as a person who helps his clients actually grow their businesses he develops a bond which if continually cultivated and taken care of will be virtually impossible for a competing attorney to take those clients away from him.

I could go on and on listing benefits and reasons for doing what I mentioned above, but I won't waist your time with that. Instead I'll assume that you get the point :-)

The point being that it's well worth developing the habit of positioning yourself as a person who truly has your clients best interest in mind. Yes, even to the point of matching your own clients with each other when it's truly to each parties genuine benefit for having done so. When you are the match maker, you're in the perfect position to connect your clients, as both parties obviously know like and trust you, otherwise they wouldn't do business with you in the first place.

Now back to the story of my friend, and what we decided would be the best plan of action in his situation...

I suggested he think about his vendors -- in particular those who would be the most likely to have clients which might have a need for what my friend was offering (in this case it was to rent an office space).

The answer came quickly in the form of his accountant, as well as the separate company he uses for book keeping services.

I suggested he ask both of his respective vendors (his accountant and bookkeeper) to ask their clients if they have a need for what he had to offer (after all, he was their client -- so wouldn't it be in their best interest to lookout for him? Of course it would. Not to mention his clients who wanted this need filled would be appreciative to him as well. HINT: That's what we call a win, win).

Needless to say I'm confident that if his vendors (i.e. book keeper or accountant) understand the value in "networking" the win, win way (i.e. going beyond their own self interests) there are going to be some exciting results which go way beyond the obvious one being that the property is rented. Here's what I mean...

My friend's happy because he is able to fill his need. The person who had the need which is filled is happy. And of course the accountant or bookkeeper (whichever happens to be the matchmaker in the deal) builds a tremendous amount of goodwill and "value" in the eyes of not only his own clients, but all the people who happen to hear the story about how their accountant or bookkeeper really has their best interest in mind to the point that they even help them increase revenues and fill needs beyond their core services.

Of course the really exciting results kick in if the particular vendor or service provider decides to go beyond simply doing this as a one time deal -- and instead adopts this as an ongoing way of doing business!

If you're not putting the ideas shared above into practice in your own life (personally or professionally) give some serious thought to starting now. The sooner you do the sooner you will begin to find yourself in a truly enviable place in the marketplace... at a point where it will be all but impossible for the competition to separate you from your current customers.

Happy Networking, Josh Hinds :-)


* Josh is available to speak on topics related to professional networking and becoming a person others look to do business with. Get details on having him speak to your group at www.GetMotivation.com/speaker/

(c) All rights reserved.

Henry Pellerin interview - sales training expert

Henry Pellerin is the co-author of the Strategic Selling Process and President of VantaEDGE(TM), inc. a company that specializes in developing custom sales training programs for companies and is also in the process of releasing a new program that provides training on demand and just in time training. Henry also offers a free report entitled: The Red Flag Report, which details the top 12 mistakes that lose sales.

I'm pleased to bring you Henry Pellerin...

Josh: How do you define Business Networking and why do you feel it's important?

Henry Pellerin: Business Networking is one of the first steps to building relationships.

Unfortunately most people I see at business networking functions, and even online, are trying to skip over the first few steps of relationship building and go directly into trying to sell their product or service.

So if we can agree that Business Networking is one of the first steps to building relationships, I would more specifically define it as meeting people to determine if there is a fit, common interest, or something that makes sense to go to the next step of the relationship building process.

What is interesting is you pretty much approach prospects the same way. Meaning, we don't just go up to a random person and ask for an order... right?

We first build some rapport, establish trust, then move onto uncovering needs, etc. before we even ask for an order.

The other aspect I will mention about Business Networking is at the end it is not who you know, it is who knows you.

Here is a great tip, when you leave a networking function ask yourself these two questions:

1. Did I establish some quality (quantity is not the key) contacts?

2. If they were asked who they met at the function,

a. would they remember me?
b. would they have reason to say something positive about me?

If you can answer yes (honestly) to those questions, that should give you an indication you are on the right track.

Josh: Can you share a few ideas that someone could put into practice that would help them to improve their business networking skills?

Henry Pellerin: I think first and foremost is to have the right attitude before attending. Having the right attitude is NOT:

1. Focusing on how many business cards you can collect.

2. How many "elevator" pitches you can give - fyi - most Business Networking functions are not held in an elevator.

3. You get the point.

The right attitude is planning to focus on how many quality conversations you can have? And focusing on the people you meet and not the person wearing your shoes. If you have the right attitude you will attract people, which is a lot more fun (and easier) than trying to chase people away.

If you follow these simple rules, people will ask you what you do and want to learn more about your business.

I guess it all boils down to focusing in on helping others. There is an old Zig Ziglar Quote, "if you help enough other people in life, you will be rewarded in return". That might not be the exact quote, but it was something like that.

This is so true, I just like to leave off the last part, about being rewarded or getting what you want in return - that whole reciprocity concept. The reason I like to leave that last part off is so many people have that as an expectation and get upset if they help someone out and that person does not do anything for them. Which is not the point of the concept, too many people are trying to keep score. So I really think it is best to focus on the front part, focusing on how many people you can help.

Josh: How important has networking been in your own professional life. Can you share a few examples where it has made a difference?

Henry Pellerin: Business networking is the life blood of my company. To this point 100% of our business has been through word of mouth. I read a statistic last week that 84% of all sales began through word of mouth. So Business Networking is essential.

Also, before starting my own company, the majority of my sales came from strategic alliances. I have two specific examples I would be happy to share. The first is with traditional Business Networking. The second is an example with social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). I wanted to include this one because it took me a little while to grasp the concept and see the value.

Two years ago I donated my time to provide some free sales training for the members of our local Chamber of Commerce. I conducted these programs with a friend of mine once a month for an entire year. We did not charge for these programs, we did not have a goal that these would be lead generation programs, and we did not offer any products or services for sale during these programs. They were 100% focused on the members and jammed packed with valuable content.

Some might say that is really volunteering and not really a business networking function. I really disagree, something does not have to be labeled "a Networking Function" to be a networking function. In fact, for those that are looking to start networking I would recommend avoiding the status quo and look outside the box. There are lot of other places to network and quite frankly, they are typically a lot more productive and effective.

In any event, during this time (and still to this day) we would have sales managers call to thank us and then ask if we could customize a program for their teams, other organizations heard about the value we were providing and asked if they could hire us.

Besides creating a lot of business opportunity for me, it also really added to the credibility of my company, which has allowed us to do some pretty unique things. For example, we have had panels with purchasing managers from several large corporations and since these companies respect us and find us credible it makes it really easy to get people to participate.

In fact now people actually contact us. And honestly, we did not expect any of that because we were focused on putting together high quality programs for sales people and business owners.

When I was first invited to participate in social networking four years ago I avoided it, in fact truth be told I have only been networking online for about four months. Actually Josh, that is how we met, through a mutual friend that I met in a social media environment. That is a great example, but there is another I want to share.

When I first opened a Facebook account I made a connection with this person and noticed he had a membership site. Since I was planning to start a membership site I checked his out. He really has a great membership site. So I sent him an email to compliment him on his site and told him I was just beginning the process.

He replied back and said thanks for complimenting his site (and actually taking the time to really look at it in detail) and offered to help out or share his trials and tribulations with me. So we then talked on the phone. Well, long story short, that person was John Morgan, President and CEO of the internetfuse.com.

Since then we have become good friends. I am really excited for him because John and his wife Brooke are expecting their first child in October. In addition to having a great new friend, John offered to be my first affiliate. But, this did not all start out with any expectations, I did not contact John to try to be sneaking and "pretend" to care about him (I really was interested, and I really do like his site, etc.) and I did not beg him to be an affiliate, he offered.

The point being is this relationship began with me focusing on him and having a legitimate interest in him and his business.

Josh, I know we are nearing the end of this interview, but I did want to thank you for taking the time to put together such a great resource for everyone to learn from - great job and I am sure people visiting this site will change Business Networking as we know it today!


-Join the Conversation: Care to share your thoughts? Did you find anything particularly helpful or insightful? Let your voice be heard in the comments section below... Happy Networking, Josh Hinds :-)

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