Lynn Pierce interview - Speaker and Author

Lynn Pierce, the Success Architect, has taught people how to combine business and personal development to reach the pinnacle of success and live the life of their dreams for over 25 years. In addition, she is also the founder of one of the most exciting annual events for women entrepreneurs, "Women's Business Empowerment Summit".

She shares her keys to success and life mastery in "Breakthrough to Success; 19 Keys to Mastering Every Area of Your Life" and on her blog at YourBreakthroughToSuccess.com/blog.

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

Lynn Pierce: Business networking to me is building rapport first and then building a relationship based on how you can support someone else before you ever consider asking them to do anything for you.

Relationships are what life is all about and your business is an extension of who you are. The way you network is just your way of showing you care about other people. Nothing is more important than that.

It's not about how many business cards you can hand out or how great of an elevator speech you've created to tell people what you do.

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

Lynn Pierce: The first rule is to be sincerely interested in the people you meet, really want to get to know them.

It's important to bond with the person you are meeting and really connect with them personally, not just as a representation of their business. This is accomplished the same way in business as in becoming friends socially.

Find areas of commonality by asking questions in a conversation that show you are sincerely interested in who the other person is. Forget about the business end of it at this point. If you develop a real relationship, the business side of it will come easily.

I know I'm very shy in situations where I don't know people and lots of other people are nervous about standing alone and not knowing how to start a conversation. They would really appreciate you walking up to them and helping them to feel more comfortable by asking them about something they will enjoy talking about. It only takes 1 or 2 questions to find that commonality.

In the 25 year career I had in sales the way I always found myself at the top year after year was because I was able to build relationships instantly.

It's a learned skill of being sincerely interested in people and how you can help them. It's also learning how to ask the questions that will engage the other person in a real conversation, not one that sounds like a sales pitch.

You also network through the first impression you create, it's another point of bonding.

In person, the first impression you create is with your body language and the way you dress, before you say a word. Online or in print your photo does the talking for you before someone reads or listens to a word you say.

Always use your photo where you can, not out of vanity but as a point of connection. People feel they know you when they can see you.

Josh: Can you share some of the ways you use the internet for business networking?

Lynn Pierce: On my blog, in my ezine, on Facebook and Twitter when I interact with someone, I treat it as a conversation and approach that conversation the same way I would in person.

People need to connect with the real person, not just the expert or business owner. People don't connect with businesses, they connect with people. They also don't choose to do business with you unless they feel that connection.

I learned in the first year of writing articles for my ezine that some of the things people remembered the longest were stories about my life. That's because those are the points of personal connection that allow people to feel like you have things in common and you understand each other.

It's really important to be conversational and to be real. You don't want to finally talk on the phone or meet in person and find out that the person you connected with was not who you thought they were.

When people meet me I want them to feel like they already know me from reading what I write.

I would never let an assistant do blog comments or facebook comments or tweets for me. I don't care how familiar they are with the way I speak, they can't get in my head and respond authentically the way I would respond.

In my opinion, hiring someone or automating the process goes against the whole reason for networking, which is to build a relationship. You can't build a relationship if you're not even really there.

Josh: How do you generally engage a person in conversation upon first meeting them? I realize this is a bit of an open ended question, so let's assume it's someone you've just met in a semi-professional setting such as at an event, or local Chamber of Commerce type of meeting.

Lynn Pierce: I would introduce myself and ask them about their experience with this event or group to initially break the ice. Normally that's all it takes to build a conversation based on their experience and then sharing how my experience has something in common with theirs, or how I can help them feel more comfortable at the event. I would never start with, "What do you do?"

In the rare instances where there's nothing to talk about from their answer I can always find another question to ask to discover a commonality we can build a conversation on. It can be something as simple as asking if they live nearby. That question fits almost any networking event you find yourself at. And the conversation flows from listening to what they say in their response that you can build on.

It's so much easier with Twitter because you can just join in a conversation that's already taking place. You can make connections quickly by commenting, connecting and sharing who you are.

Josh: Can you share a personal "networking" success story with us?

Lynn Pierce: Networking through relationship building has been the source of just about everything I've accomplished in my business. When I first started on my path of becoming an author and speaker I quickly became friends with people considered to be gurus. I think it was because I met them as real people I was interested in instead of the "guru".

Those personal relationships opened business doors because they recognized my sincere interest in them as a friend and not a means to an end. In many instances I was able to connect them with people they hadn't met. So don't ever think you have nothing to offer to someone you perceive to be on a higher level in business.

With online networking, last year I offered two speakers I had met on Facebook opportunities to speak at Women's Business Empowerment Summit. I had 5 other speakers referred to me by people I had met on Facebook. Learning how to effectively network benefits everyone.

- Happy Networking, Josh Hinds :-)
(Connect with me on Facebook or Twitter)

*brought to you by BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com

Liz Lynch interview - Networking Strategist and Author

Liz Lynch is the author of Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online and a sought-after speaker who brings a practical and insightful perspective to networking that has connected with a global audience. She’s appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USAToday as well as on Fox Business News, ABC News, CNBC.com and Businessweek.com.

Liz is also founder of the Center for Networking Excellence, a company that develops products, programs and seminars to help entrepreneurs and professionals get clients, build their businesses, and accelerate their careers through networking. Her bottom-line approach grew from her experience in corporate America working at some of the top firms in their industries -- Goldman Sachs, Disney, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Time Warner.

Josh: Liz, how do you define Business Networking and why do you feel it's important?

Liz Lynch: To me, a network is a support system that you can turn to for advice, ideas, information and feedback. So networking then is simply the process of building and maintaining that support system.

The main reason you’d want a support system in your life is to give you maximum flexibility to pursue the goals that you want to pursue and have a high probability of achieving them. Want to change jobs, start your own business, or do something completely different with your life?

As independent-minded as you may be, if a goal is big enough, you can’t get there alone. You’re going to need the help of other people and your network is a valuable source of that help.

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

Liz Lynch: I think mindset is the most important thing for successful networking. Tactics and technique without the right intentions will leave you spinning your wheels and potentially alienate a lot of people. Once you develop an intuitive sense for building relationships, you can get almost anything done. So here are a couple of tips for getting there:

First, think about being a connector rather than a collector. When you meet new people it’s not about getting their business card, but about making a personal connection on which to form an authentic and supportive relationship. This means you need to have a conversation and get to know them. Let that be your goal rather than just collecting another business card.

Second, if you want to get someone’s attention you have to take the attention off of yourself. For instance, here’s an example of a Facebook friend invitation I received the other day:

My web site is [url removed to protect the guilty]. Subscribe to my newsletter. It’s free. I CAN HELP YOU! Check out my book on Amazon.com. The book is for males AND FEMALES. I will be posting content for you soon."

Hmm, how’s that supposed to entice me to want to network? That message tells me that he’s only out to help himself and doesn’t care about me at all. Not a great way to start off a relationship. Needless to say, I didn’t accept the invite. Whether you’re networking in person or online, it’s important to put your agenda aside. Think about what’s going to pull someone into your network, rather than what you can push at them.

Josh: I get the question a lot from people who say, "those ideas all sound great, but they wouldn't work for me because I'm an introvert." What advice can you give folks who just aren't comfortable getting out there and connecting with others?

Liz Lynch: I’m an introvert too! One of the reasons I wanted to write this book is to let people know that you don’t need to be the life of the party to be successful with networking. You don’t even need to do it all the time, as long as you know how to be highly effective when you do get out there.

So if networking is uncomfortable, you can at least minimize the time that you have to do it while still getting great results. This is what smart networking is all about.

In my experience, I find that introverts may have a slight edge over their extroverted friends because they’re less prone to hogging the spotlight. Turn your introverted tendencies to your advantage when you meet people and ask lots of questions. People love to talk about themselves and will feel more connected to you because you’ve shown interest in getting to know them.

Josh: For some people knowing where to go to network in the first place is a problem. Can you share some specific resources, events, or places that you have found helpful for meeting new people and growing your business network?

Liz Lynch: I’m a huge Facebook fan for business networking. But again, I think there’s a trick to using it and some people just don’t get it. I feel people are more responsive when you post things about yourself (pictures, status updates, videos, blog entries, etc.) and let those who are interested in what you’re doing find their way to you, rather than trying to market to people directly by sending messages, inviting them to events and groups. It’s also important to engage people in conversation by commenting on things that they post, which helps you start to build rapport.

I’m also now starting to explore Biznik.com, whose tagline is "Business Networking that doesn’t suck." Not only have I met the nicest, most supportive people there, but it’s a company that believes in what I believe: that the best of business networking is the combination of online and offline. In addition to the site, they host events in different cities so people can meet face-to-face.

For in person networking since there are so many options, the best thing to do is ask your target market where they network and what groups they belong to.

Josh: Do you see any common mistakes that people tend to make when it comes to attempting to make business connections? If so, what are they and what corrections could they make in your opinion which would help them to be more effective in their approach towards networking?

Liz Lynch: Even though social networking is becoming more and more popular, remember that online sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. are just tools. They don’t do the networking for you. All the same principles of building relationships offline apply to building relationships online because there’s a real person behind that profile. Don’t spam your "friends" with overtly promotional messages and don’t waste their time with frivolous applications and irrelevant event/group invitations.

-Happy Networking, Josh Hinds :-)
(you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter)

*brought to you by BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com