Networking expertise to help you grow your business
I cannot emphasise enough the importance of setting clear goals if you want an effective referrals strategy. The clearer you are in your own mind about what you are looking for, the better placed you are to communicate those needs to your network and to help them find and convert the opportunities to refer you.
If you are going to attend networking events or join groups, you need to pick the right ones for you and understand what success is going to look like for you. [click to continue…]
It’s amazing how often people are nervous about asking for referrals. It’s as if we are scared of being a burden to our networks rather than taking pleasure by enabling them to do something they enjoy.
Yes, something they enjoy. Because, in my experience, most people seem to derive more pleasure from making a connection that makes a positive difference to someone else than they do even from receiving such introductions.
Stop thinking about referrals to you, as an imposition on others. As long as you add value to the person you’re being referred to, as long as you are providing them with a solution to a problem they face, or satisfying a desire they have, then you are anything but. [click to continue…]
There’s something stunningly crass about asking for referrals before you’ve even delivered the most basic service to a new customer. And yet so many people do it.
Known as ‘The Columbo Close’ after the TV detective who would be on his way out of the door, before turning around and, with his immortal words, delivering the knockout blow that would unmask the villain of the piece. In the sales world, the villain of the piece is the salesman who finishes off his sales pitch by asking ‘one more thing’. [click to continue…]
Flying back from Copenhagen recently I picked up a copy of British Airways’ Business Life Magazine. Flicking through, I was naturally interested to come across an article by Terri Sjodin entitled ‘Going Up?’ [click to continue…]
Labelled ‘Mr Network’ by The Sun, Andy Lopata was called ‘one of Europe’s leading business networking strategists’ by the Financial Times.
