Are you an authority on your subject?

Yesterday I wrote about finding the time for online networking. One of the real benefits of your online contributions is the way you can use them to add value and demonstrate your real expertise. In 'How you can use Twitter and Facebook to be persuasive' Graham Jones explains the psychology behind this.

As Graham says you can use Twitter and Facebook and all the other social networks to show you are an authority on your subject by publicising:

* Your original content
* Your thoughts on current research
* Your readiness and ability to answer questions
* Your leadership position in associated organisations
* Your connections with other authorities

Read the full article at the link above.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Walking the walk and not just talking the talk

Successful networkers build their reputation at the same time as building relationships. Networking, both online and offline, is a great way of building your reputation by sharing your expertise. Your advocates can then make connections for you when the right opportunity presents itself.

I get many offers from people interested in speaking at NRG business networking events. I explain that we concentrate on Practical Business and Personal Development in the Seminars at our Networking Events and that priority is given to NRG members when choosing presenters. They are not Sales Pitches and by educating and informing other members and guests the speakers build their own reputation and help others achieve their own goals. This enhances the overall networking experience and strengthens the relationships being built.

Many of the offers recently have been from 'Social Media Experts'. I always speak to people I trust about prospective speakers. I also google them to check out their online presence and contribution. In one or two instances even these 'social media experts' have only had a limited presence online. Can you really speak authoritatively about Social Media with a handful of followers on Twitter and even fewer updates?

Much of your reputation comes from what you do rather than what you say. Make sure you are doing the things that match and enhance the message you are giving to your network. If you are referred to someone then that person will probably speak to others and check you out online too.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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Be prepared for speaking slots

The seminar presenter at a recent monthly NRG London Charing Cross Networking Event was unavoidably out of the country and unable to attend. One of the members, Cali Bird, stepped forward and presented a great seminar on Time Management in his place.

She shared her expertise and inspired the audience to take some of the steps required to achieve their personal and business goals. She certainly built her reputation and will be at the forefront of the minds of the attendees when they see an opportunity for someone like Cali.

Sharing your expertise in this way is a great way of giving value and growing advocates for you and your business.

If you get the opportunity are you ready to speak?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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What should you blog about?

At a recent seminar after the monthly NRG-networks lunch at Marble Arch in London Internet Psychologist, Graham Jones, was talking about 2 simple ways to double your website traffic. One of the questions he posed was what was common to the websites we all visit regularly? The answer being content, content and more content.

In my recent article 'top 10 tips for building business with the effective use of offline & online networks' tip 7 is that your blog is the cornerstone of your online presence & you build your reputation by sharing your expertise. The important thing is that you are sharing content that is relevant to your intended audience.

I was talking about this last week with the owner of a printing company and he asked me what he should blog about. I asked him about the problems that his customers are looking to solve when they use his services. All of the examples he gave me were about how his business customers were looking to improve the ways they communicated their marketing messages. As a marketer he had a clear understanding of their issues and many practical examples of where he had helped. My reply to him was that those were the things to blog about. The stories, hints, tips, & insights from his clients' issues and problems are great content to add value to others with similar issues.

If he regularly generates that content and communicates that through his network he will build an audience of interested readers. Many of them will know people with the issues and problems that need an expert like him.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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How do I use Twitter & Social Networks?

Quite a few people have asked me recently about using Social Media & Social Networking sites to promote their business. As I result I wrote an article for our website on my top 10 tips for building business with the effective use of offline & online networks. I have also developed a seminar on this to present at our NRG monthly networking lunch groups in the UK.

Social media and social networks provide great tools to help build your profile and develop relationships alongside your offline activities. It is important that you consider this strategically otherwise you may waste a lot of your precious time.

To help on deciding where to invest your time and effort strategically ask yourself a question.

"On which social media & social networks will I find those people with access & influence in my market?"

Once you decide which are right for you then you can then share the stories, hints, tips, & insights that you blog about. As I say in my top 10 tips article your blog is the cornerstone of your online presence & is the place you build your reputation.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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Reputation, Friends and Generosity

Nancy Williams of Tiger Two presented a seminar on 'Online Reputation Management' before the NRG business networking lunch in London Charing Cross last week. She presented 13 top tips and I picked out 3 as being equally applicable to networking 'offline'.

1. Check out your reputation - Nancy shared how you can easily check your online reputation. In fact her blog has detailed instructions on creating an online reputation management dashboard.

Why not ask some of your customers and networking contacts for their thoughts on your reputation? Ask them particularly to focus on what it is they think you do and who for. That way you know where you need to concentrate your message.

2. Make friends - Nancy spoke about being strategic about social networking sites and choosing your friends carefully. Those with similar interests in the same field as you.

It is the same in networking. Are you networking in those groups and places where you can build business relationships with other professionals operating in similar markets and fields to you?

3. Be generous - Nancy suggested that you give before you receive.

Exactly the mindset for successful networking. Are you connecting others, providing useful information and giving referrals first?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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What are people really hearing?

You can often find that people hear something altogether different from the message you think you are conveying.

I was at a Business Networking Event recently when someone gave a very convincing pitch. He then said something I disagreed with so I said that. He responded with;

"You have misunderstood me. It is an irrefutable fact that..."

I probably had misunderstood him, and so I apologised. My lasting impression is not the pitch, however, it is the impression of being told I was wrong and he was right. Not an ideal way to start a relationship.

I remember hearing from someone who said that the meaning of our communication is the response we get. If you are not getting the right response then maybe get some of your trusted contacts to give you some good honest feedback. You can then adjust, or not, accordingly.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | virtual board

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Behaviours that build trust

I read an excellent piece from Stephen M.R. Covey on 'The 13 Behaviours of a High Trust Leader'. The behaviours that he describes apply equally in networking.

He describes Character Behaviours, Competence Behaviours, and those that combine both Character and Competence.

Character:
1. Talk straight
2. Demonstrate Respect
3. Create Transparency
4. Right Wrongs
5. Show Loyalty
Competence
6. Deliver Results
7. Get better
8. Confront Reality
9. Clarify Expectations
10. Practice Accountability
Character and Competence
11. Listen First
12. Keep Commitments
13. Extend Trust

You can download the paper here >>>.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | virtual board

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Where building relationships can lead

At NRG we recently surveyed our members to find out what our members got out of the NRG relationship. I was (pleasantly) surprised to find that over half our members were actively collaborating with other members.

Then one of our more mature and wordly-wise members sat me down and explained things to me.

"You make a big thing about developing relationships don't you" he said.

"Absolutely, it is fundamental to successful networking" I said.

"Well, think about it - if your members do spend time getting to know other members in depth surely you shouldn't be surprise when a lot of them want to work together, share projects, jointly go to market - in other words, collaborate!"

Silly me - why didn't I think that through!

Martin Davies
NRG Business Networks

How not to win friends and influence people

I was at a Chamber of Commerce event last night. It was a good opportunity to catch up with some contacts and meet some new people. I started talking to one person who perhaps should have slowed down on the free wine.

A lady approached us and introduced herself. I recognised that she would be a great possible ally for the other person, but when he came to introduce himself he couldn't pronounce his company name! She was clearly unimpressed.

If you've taken the time and trouble to attend an event that is primarily business focused it may be best to wait until afterwards to unwind :-)

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

When creating a good impression pays dividends!

I was at a lunchtime networking meeting the other day and my neighbour, Richard, told me a great story. He has a successful web design business and was bidding recently for a medium sized company's redesign. It was a competitive bid and he was one of a number showing their wares. He was not hopeful, especially as the Managing Director was reputedly a 'toughy' and feared by his employess. The presentation was going to be difficult.

The Managing Director walked into the room, espied Richard and exclaimed "I know you!" It happened that some 18 months earlier Richard had presented for 5 minutes to a local IoD networking meeting. The Managing Director was also a member of the IoD and had seen Richard present. They didn't meet but the Managing Director had a good memory.

Richard was welcomed as a member of the same club, breezed through the presentation and, guess what, he got the business.

The moral of the story is not to join the IoD (unless you want to), rather it is to take the opporunity to 'put yourself about' whenver you can. You never know when a future client may be listening!

Martin Davies
NRG Business Networks

What first impression do you create?

I attended a seminar last week delivered by personal branding and image expert, Tessa Hood, of Changing Gear. If you create a bad first impression you may never get the chance to put it right so when you go networking dress and conduct yourself in a manner that is consistent with the service you provide. We're sometimes asked by people how they should dress for our events. We ask how they would dress if they were meeting a potential new client for the first time.

She asked if our perceptions about our personal brands matched other peoples. If you're not sure then get some feedback from your trusted contacts.

I found a great quote from Tom Peters on the subject. He said;

"Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Educate, educate, educate

I attended an excellent marketing masterclass by Nigel Temple this evening. One of the points he made about differentiation was the importance of freely sharing useful information in your marketing. He said it was better to be seen as an expert than to just claim you are. His point is illustrated beautifully by the amount of free resources at his own website, nigeltemple.com.

It reminds me of a quote from an NRG member in some research into business networking that NRG conducted a couple of years ago:

"I do not do any cold calling - all my business comes from networking and referrals. Much of it is as a result of doing a presentation where I share my secrets so people know how to do what I do. Mostly, they prefer to ask me to do it for them, even though I've explained how they can do it for themselves! Networking is not about selling - it's about building relationships."

This demonstrates nicely how Nigel's good advice applies equally in the relationship building context in business networking.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

When should I offer a 'freebie'?

I was having a 1-2-1 meeting with a new NRG member, who was in the Internet Services business. He asked me "I never know whether it's OK to offer a free traffic analysis of their website to someone I've met when networking - I'm worried they'll think me pushy and think it's a sales ploy."

My answer was that it depended on how you set the scene. I thought it was fine if you introduced the offer in the context that you were trying to increase your visibility in business, really wanted to educate people you met about what you did and the best way was to show them - hence the offer.

The key thing in business networking is to make sure the offer is without strings - none of us likes to feel beholden.

Good networking!

Martin Davies

Hey this networking stuff really does work....

Just found this post from Phil Parr of the branding agency twentyfive on Ecademy; "Hey this networking stuff really does work...."

Phil said, "After 18 months of hard networking, doing the lunches, going to the breakfasts, making time for 1-2-1 meetings and presenting seminars, I am finally starting to get referrals in to companies that are not only right in terms of size and turnover but are ready to do the serious deep level branding that we do!

I have to admit to a bit of a crisis in confidence a couple of months ago - I even thought of cutting right back on the activity (it just seemed like so much effort with no reward) but I stuck in there and it's proved to be the right decision.

So all you people out there who may be wavering - here's my advice: Stick it out, it may take some time, but the referrals are out there."

Phil's absolutely right. It does take time to build relationships and your reputation, but that's where it pays off. I suspect if all he had been doing were the meetings then he would still be waiting.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Practising what your preach

I attended an all day business networking event yesterday. The event was to launch the Apprentice Programme from Business in Berkshire. This is a mentoring programme to match new businesses with more established businesses in the Berkshire area.

I spoke in the morning about 'How Networking Works' and then stayed to listen to the other presenters and to meet and talk with people during the day.

At the end someone said to me it's great to see you practise what you talked about earlier in the day.

It's important when building your reputation to not only say what you should be doing, but to do it too.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

Networking is all about managing your reputation!

I was talking to an IFA and an insolvency practitioner at a networking meeting a couple of days ago. The IFA was bemoaning the fact that he had only one (free) meeting with a prospective client before he expected them to sign up. The relationship building had to go a long way in one meeting!

So we talked about how networking helps this relationship building process. We came to the conclusion that networking is all about creating and managing your reputation. Over time, if you network effectively, your reputation goes before you. If you are introduced by someone who rates you by them saying "you must meet John before you make any decision about which IFA to choose" your reputation is working hard for you. When you do have that first meeting it then becomes much easier to make the prospect feel comfortable and to create the right relationship fast!

So think about your networking activity and ask yourself the question "Is this improving my reputation?"

Good networking!

Martin Davies