Is Your Networking Not Working?

Companies invest thousands of dollars each year in association dues and networking events (not to mention breakfast, lunch and dinner), yet even with these investments, many sales organizations fall short of the desired goal: Creating a network of qualified referral partners who 'get it.' This is a sophisticated term for business development and sales professionals who understand the key principles in building relationships - professionals who are centers of influence, create strong partnerships, and have great referral networks. Here are the top five principles for profitable networking:

Principle #1: Generosity = Reciprocity
Great networkers know there are two sales goals to achieve each month; their personal sales goal and their referral partners' sales goal. Sales managers reap big rewards when they ask two questions of their sales team at the weekly sales meeting: 1) what's the progress on achieving your sales goal? And, 2) what did we do to help our customers and partners achieve their sales goal through our contacts and introductions? Generous salespeople consistently look for opportunities for partners and clients as well as themselves.

Principle #2: Commitment to Partners
Many salespeople say that have referral partners, however, when you start looking at the evidence you discover most salespeople have business acquaintances, not partners. Business professionals who are committed know some basics about their referral partners such as:

• Target/best fit client

• Their referral partners' value proposition

• Trigger events that identify opportunities

• Top ten targets for 2009

What is your score? If you are flunking the commitment test, don't worry; scores can be raised by investing time with your partners and getting answers to the questions.

Principle #3: Investment of Time
Systems and processes are efficient. People are not. Anyone besides me confused by this new concept called Speed Networking? Be honest. Is a person really going to introduce you to their best client after two minutes of conversation? It's kind of like Speed Dating. You are not going to get an invite to Thanksgiving to meet Mom and Dad after five minutes of conversation. Good partners want to know you as a person and a professional because they are protective of their good relationships. People with strong referral networks carefully qualify who they put on their referral team making sure there is a match on core values, philosophy and expertise. Cold calling may be a numbers game, developing referral partners is not.

Principle #4: Follow-Up on Referrals
Ever give someone a referral and never hear the outcome of that referral? In fact, you don't know if the person moved, retired or got out of the business. Really inspires you to give that person another introduction, doesn't it? Salespeople who are great at relationships understand the value of follow through. They keep their partners apprised of when they contacted the introduction, the results of the introduction and a thank you and update whether the introduction turned into business or not. Strong networkers make follow-up a priority on the weekly 'To Do' list.

Principle #5: Do the Work
Good networkers like this four letter word. Too many salespeople take the easy route on referrals by saying something like, "Hey Jill, give Joe a call and use my name." Great networkers do the work. They get on the phone, call Joe, deliver Jill's '30 second commercial,' and receive permission from Joe to accept a call from Jill. More work? Yes. Better results? Absolutely. Get out of the 'use my name' business and get into the introduction business. It serves two purposes: The first is that it protects the relationship with the client or colleague you are thinking of referring. Joe may not want to take a phone call from Jill and is actually irritated when you gave his name without permission. Secondly, if Jill can't get a return phone call from Joe because he didn't want the call in the first place, she will be wondering why you set her up to fail. If you are serious about building a referral network, get serious about working. It's similar to a good financial plan. More investment of time in the beginning yields greater dividends in the end.

Building relationships and referral partners has always been important. It is even more important today because of a tough economy. Personal introductions are still one of the best ways to get the opportunity to present your product or service. If your networking is not working, get to work on applying the top five practices.