The Fallacy of 1:1 Networking Meetings

Pretty much every networking group, organisation and club advocate the need for follow up meetings or one to ones.  BNI are particularly big on this.  The thinking goes like this:

• Networking is a numbers game. The more people you meet, the more business you’ll get.
• Relationships take time. The more one to ones you have, the more relationship capital you build.
• Givers gain. The more people you get to know, the more people you can help.

All of these are true. The problem is ini how modern day networkers and networking groups interpret this thinking. Members of networking groups are (rightly) urged to meet with their fellow networkers outside of regular face to face meetings with 1:1s to build deeper relationships, understand (and make understood) respective offerings and explore each others’ networks, goals, strengths and needs.

However, the networking landscape has changed over recent years. The way people interact, build relationships, find out more about each other’s businesses and explore each other’s networks has changed. And the traditional 1:1s  are becoming more and more redundant. Here are just 5 of the ways the rules have changed:

1.       Business people are more time poor than ever before. Running a business is an ever-more consuming endeavour in current times. At a time when most have just about manage to conquer the prolific and absorbing nature of email, along comes social media. Running multiple inboxes and a variety of online profiles now steals another 5-10 hours of weekly activity.

2.       Conversion ratios have lowered. Remember the sales courses you went on where they talked about cold calling ratios? Make 10 calls, get 3 appointments, make 1 sale. In today’s world of brutal competition, you’ve got to have 20 conversations to yield 3 appointments. You’ve also got to have 4 or 5 appointments to give you one sale. It’s the same with networking. You’ve got to attend more events, speak to more people, deliver more elevator speeches and follow up more contacts just to give you the same return.

3.       Buying cycles have lengthened. People are taking longer to buy. And also to pay! That means you need more of a sales pipeline. Procurement is more convoluted. Pitches and proposals are more complicated, time-consuming and arduous. The outcomes of your sales presentations and referrals are less predictable. In short, you’ve got to put in more effort and have more activity ‘ongoing’ to maintain previous levels of success.

4.       Networking skills have only marginally improved. Despite the training given by many networking organisations and gurus (including myself) networking ROI has increased little over the past 10 years. The majority of networkers only manage to cover their costs and break even. Networking is a great way to raise profile and build a business, only if the person doing it is effective, focused and strategic with their efforts. Few are.

5.       Markets are more global and competition more fierce. Apple have admitted that their competition is not against other technology giants but against anyone in the leisure business who wants to engage the time and minds of their customers. You now have rivals across the country and possibly across the world. As I often say in my networking training seminars:

“If what you do is optional, or what you do has competitors, people can choose not to use you.”

All this means that the modern day effective and productive professional networkers must be ruthlessly efficient with their time. Culling one to ones is a start. Face to face 1 to 1s are the most time consuming thing a networker can do. It’s not like you’re spending an hour and talking to ten people. It’s a 1 to 1!

As a professional networking coach and trainer, I teach my clients the following 7 strategies for maximising time, reducing face to face 1:1s and increasing their networking ROI:

1. Qualify networking contacts more effectively
2. Network more online
3. Be more selective with referral partners
4. Invest more heavily in fewer relationships
5. Attend less networking events
6. Use technology to meet (skype video, online meeting platforms, phone calls)
7. Say ‘no’ more often!

It was leadership guru John Maxwell who said “Say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the great.”

You can network for an hour online without leaving your office, and build a substantial relationship with 3 people who live within a 10 mile radius of your house. Prospects, partners, potential introducers. You can then pick up the phone, fix up a web chat or even meet face to face with those that fit.

Modern day business builders can’t afford to give up a morning to meet a fellow networker unless they are pretty certain it’s going to give a good return for both sides. Think about who you’re meeting, what has to ‘give’ so you can meet them, and ask yourself one of my favourite quotes:

Tagged as: appointments, brutal competition, conversations, email, group organisation, Human Interest, networking groups, numbers game, running a business