When I was asked to present at the Chamber’s “How to Do Business At Business After Hours” event in October, I was pretty confident I had a lot of information to share. After all, I am a former Chamber Ambassador and a former BNI Chapter President and figured I knew a thing or two about networking.

And then, a week before my Chamber presentation, I had the opportunity to meet Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and co-author of The Go-Giver and my view of networking took on a whole new dimension. It was with this new perspective that I addressed the folks who attended that class in mid-October.

Although most of us know what traditional business networking is (picking up referrals and, hopefully, more business), there are ways to provide value to all involved by just looking at events like Business After Hours in a different light.

If you look at the original definition of networking (which is actually a computer term), adjusted by Bob Burg for business purposes, it becomes: “An arrangement of people crossed at regular intervals by other people, all of whom are cultivating mutually beneficial, give-and-take, win-win relationships with each other.”

Bob also reminds us that “all things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.”

How will they know if they like and trust us unless they get to know us? So the most effective networking is not asking for business, it’s getting to know people, like them, and trust them, so that they will, in turn know, like and trust you.

So networking is NOT handing your business card to absolutely everyone you see and telling them to call you. That is hard-selling, which is the opposite of networking. And, for many of us, that’s the way we’ve been showing up at events like Business After Hours or other networking opportunities.

Given this new way of thinking about relationship building, we might create an entirely new reason for being at these events. This is what I call your own “WHY.” Asking yourself “Why am I here?” before attending these types of events will cause you to stop and examine the results you want to create by your attendance.

So handing your business card to everyone you see and telling them to call you (i.e. hard selling) may not be the WHY for you if you want to build trusting relationships. If that’s the case, you may find that asking questions of the other person is more important than telling information to the other person. If you are networking correctly, the other person will never know you are networking.

Networking involves giving to others and helping them succeed in their lives and careers. It’s caring about the other person and his wants, needs and desires.

One key question to ask is: “How can I know if someone I’m speaking to is a good prospect for you?”

So next time you attend Business After Hours or another traditional networking opportunity, ask yourself why you are going.

Is it to GET or to GIVE? One will provide short-term results and one will provide long-term relationships. When you’re clear about your WHY, you’ll find the answers seem to appear in ways you may not have expected.

What’s your why for going to Business After Hours? Let us know!

1 Comment »

1. 

   Hi Jodee,

   Thank you for your kind mention in your terrific blog post. Getting the chance to meet you at the recent event in Minnesota it was very obvious that you ARE a master of networking and a true Go-Giver. I’m very complimented by the shout-out in your post. Thank you so much!!

   Best regards,

   Bob

   Comment by Bob Burg — November 6, 2009 @ 7:50 pm

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