Starting Again ...

So I decided to take Tessa's advice and I attended one of the networking groups that she recommended to me.  The group in question was NRG. 

So on my first morning there I went there with my laptop case full of business cards and feeling slightly anticipative about the event.  The horrors of my previous experiences still looming large in my mind.  This group though does seem to be a little different.  I got a welcoming phone call from the regional leader a very cheery guy called Trevor, who was making sure that everything was in order for the meeting on the following Thursday.  What struck me as strange though about the conversation was that this guys values and beliefs about networking were very aligned with mine. Here are a few of the things that I believe networkers ought not to do when attending events:

• Selling to other delegates - This is a big no-no in my book because it is a big turn-off.  People at these events are very savvy and know when they are being sold to ... However that didn't stop me on my first morning, which I shall tell you about later  - oh the shame :0(
• Finding the right event - this event was primarily geared towards professional people, no disrespect to the smaller trades-people but the event is not designed for the local florist or mechanic like the previous events I attended
• Look for synergies - my problem with my previous experiences was that there were very few people who I could JV (joint venture) with,  therefore I was missing out on half of what networking is supposed to be about - well so I'm told.  My goal should be to find people who I would be able to team up with to create meaningful opportunities for both parties.
• Not for making friends - making friends might be a very nice side benefit of attending an event as I love people, but in actuality when I attend a networking event I have my business hat on and therefore am more interested in how can I make the event pay for me and for the people who I meet today.

So my conversation with Trevor turned out to be a really good one as he was starting to say some of the things that Tessa had said previously.  I was starting to feel more enthused.

In the next post I will talk about my first attendance at the NRG event and for the first time promoting myself as a leadership coach - scary monsters!!!!!

Taking the plunge - joining a business networking group

Hello Again.

Well I have gone and done it now ... I have done something I vowed never to do again.  I have joined a networking group.  However unlike my previous encounters with networking groups as I described in my previous posts I have joined a group that is specific to my target audience.  In all honesty I didn't even know that such a group existed. I discovered this group by accident when I attended an ILM networking event.  One of the presenters, Tessa Hood, advised that I should look into this group as it was more targeted to networking at a more corporate level. Incidentally it was that event where I met Tessa for the first time and she managed to convince me to give networking another go.  So thank you Tessa and maybe this time it will work.

So are you interested in knowing which business networking group I have joined????  Well, I will reveal all next time and you will learn that I am a sucker for a bargain - yes indeed ladies and gents I am a a stereotypical Scotsman so offering me a deal will always help convince me to part with my cash - that an wee dram of the the single malt.  So until next time ...

Happy networking

My Business Networking History - Part 2

One of the things that I look to improve with my clients as an executive coach is their ability to learn.  Ironically going back 5 years now, I remember that it took me a while to learn the painful lessons from my business networking experience.  What I did learn, in hindsight, was that the group that I was a part of was not really my target audience.  That in itself was not the problem but very few of the people in the group had access to my target audience.  To be honest I was looking to sell to these people my services as a business coach but they weren't buying - why?  As I reflect on this now I know for sure that I didn't spend enough time educating my fellow entrepreneurs in what it was that I did and how it could benefit them.  So in actuality it was really nothing at all to do with the group I was in.  The problem was I was in the wrong group and my behaviour patterns prevented me from leaving the group.  I will speak more of that later because right now I have some other writing and work to do - oh and a nice hot cup of coffee to get the day started.

My Business Networking History - Part 1

So how have I come to be a networking cynic?  Well after spending over a year at one particular networking event where every week I met lots of nice people, ate some mediocre breakfasts, drank lots of coffee and gave away a number of free business coaching sessions, what did I get from my investment of time? I think it would be unfair to say that I got nothing because I did get something; I acquired a bucket full of frustration!  

Fortunately at the time (2004/5) I was transitioning away from career as a business analyst and was looking to utilise my new found skills of NLP in a new career as a business coach. Maybe I wasn't desperate enough so when I joined the group, which was based (probably still is) on the south coast of England, but very quickly I settled into their routine: one minute to promote your business followed by the weekly talk given by one of the members followed by the bit which used to make my heart sink:  REFERRALS.  God I used to hate that bit and there were two reasons why.  1- I was new to the area and I worked some distance away so the amount and quality of referrals that I would generate were poor and 2- I would sit and hope and wait for the referrals to come in for me.  Nothing every did ... week after week I would sit there seeing the local mechanic, florist, plumber and carpenter get all the referrals while I was left with zip, zero, goose-egg, nada.  This frustration would turn to anger, which of course I used to suppress, but week after week I hung in there expecting things to be different. 

Now I consider myself to a fairly enlightened individual, but still pretty much a still work in progress, so when I noticed that things weren't going as I expected I decided to change tact.  I will share more about this in my next update and I will talk about the lessons I learned from networking in this group.

Bye for now.
Love and light
Mark

Yey at last I'm blogging ...

Hi to anyone who has found their way to this page.  The purpose of this blog is to publicise my ongoing experiment with business networking.  My vision for this blog is to provide my readers with honest updates that will hopefully educate and inform them if they are new to business networking. I hope to be as interactive as possible with my following however I may have short periods where there are no updates or responses to your queries, but I will endeavour to reply to everyone who has a question. 

To give your some context of my experiment, I am a business coach who works with leaders in their organisations and I facilitate performance improvements in them (or their teams) by helping them to master their psychology.  As part of my marketing strategy I have decided to have another go at business networking, but this time I want to learn how to make it work effectively for me. 

In my up and coming posts I will be recalling and reflecting on my previous "nightmares" in networking which I'm sure of lot of you will relate to.  Allied to that I want to pass on all the wonderful wisdom that I am picking up from the seasoned "networkers" so that networking can be made to pay.  My hope is that you don't have to waste valuable time and resource (as I did) and will find the shortcuts (if there are any) quicker.  I will also be brutally honest with anything that I am unhappy about - this is after all an experiment - so does it work - we'll see!

My experiment will last one year from today Friday 13th August (lucky for some!!!!).

I look forward to connecting with you soon.

warmest regards
Mark aka the business networking cynic ...