Posts Tagged ‘Networking’

You never know when an opportunity might strike…

Take this week for example. During the week two new opportunities were presented to me, one verbally and one by email, both of which I took time to ponder over.

Opportunity 1 – Nigel Botterill’s Entrepreneurs Circle

I received an e-mail which encouraged me to listen to a webinar entitled “18 Secrets of Business Success”. It was an hour long so I made sure I put the time aside. One hour later I had gathered a load of free (yes free) information that I could implement for my business. Now Nigel is a bit like the Marmite factor – some love him and some don’t. That’s fine, we are all entitled to our opinion. For me I found him refreshingly honest and down to earth. If you have an hour to spare and would like to have access to some amazing down to earth business facts then why not listen to the webinar here. and see what you think.

Opportunity 2 – David Webb – Investment Properties.

I first met David of makemoneygofurther nearly two years ago through 4Networking. Although there was no immediate business synergy over a period of 18months, and numerous cooked breakfasts, I started to help David with his client database. This led on to me creating his social media streaming and recently producing a video with regards to the investment properties and a personal video for his website.

So why, you might ask, am I highlighting these two opportunities? It’s because we all get emails arriving in our inbox day in day out and 90% of them are not relevant to what we are looking for at that particular time. However, by not opening the email you will never know what it contained or whether it was relevant to you in your present situation. It’s very easy to just “delete” because you haven’t got the time to read it but in doing so – what might you be missing?

As a networker I have met hundreds of people all who have my details – let’s face it we readily hand out our business cards when we attend networking events in the hope that someone will contact us – so why should we not expect to receive emails from them? Just because you may not have done any work for them in the past does not mean to say you won’t in the future. Likewise you may not need their services yet but you just may at sometime round the corner.

Each day I receive upwards of 20/30 emails highlighting Social Media, Email Newsletters, CRM, Coaching etc. Each one gets opened and read, perhaps not on the day it was originally received, but it does eventually. Admittedly most of them then get deleted but I am very conscious that sometimes I might be deleting something of relevance. If, for example, I had deleted the above two opportunities I would have missed out on worthwhile information relevant to me at this present moment.

I accept that everyone has their own opinions but what I find unacceptable is terseness, rudeness and lack of respect. By using services I supply as a moderator I often need to bring to people’s attention opportunities that are available through mail merge or email campaigns. The above two opportunities are no exception. The majority of people who were sent the information read and listened which was great. However, I also received some emails back that were – well to be honest -just rude. But hey ho – I’m a grown up, I’ve learned to get tough and to accept the insults, put downs and rejections.

The point of this blog? Simply this – be respectful. If you network regularly then expect to receive emails on a daily basis. If the information contained in the email is of no interest then just delete it or reply and ask to be deleted from the mailing list. If you are going to respond then take a few moments to think about what you are going to say before firing off a one-liner that probably bears the frustrations of your day rather than having any relevance to the initial email.

Email etiquette is as important as face-to-face etiquette and there is no excuse for rudeness. Good networkers try to help each other and to share ideas. And even if the ideas are of no interest then a polite ‘Thanks anyway’ is better than discourtesy. Nobody can predict where the next potential opportunity can lead to – and by sharing ideas we might not only grow our businesses – we will also grow as individuals.

Having been on the networking circuit now for just over 2 ½ years one of the mysteries I will never understand is why some networking groups have a “lock out” rule. By this they mean that if there is already a member in the networking group who provides a specific service another member in the same field of business cannot join. The theory behind this principle is that you will get all the business from the group instead of having to compete with a rival. It seems to me that there is something fundamentally flawed with this principle. It is basically – wrong! (said like a large bell ringing). Why? Because people buy people. As a small business we want to surround ourselves with business partners that we get on with, people who have similar understandings to our own and people we generally like doing business with.

If I join a networking group I want to be able to have choice. If I don’t have a choice then I will have to look outside of the network should I not particularly “click” with the only person in the room providing the service that I need.
The advantage of not adopting a “lock out” policy is all about the variety of characters you meet in the room – hopefully vibrant characters with their own little quirks and idiosyncrasies. How boring it would be to sit in a room where there is only one type of person from each field/service. Now when I say ‘how boring’ I must confess that I haven’t witnessed the situation personally because as I don’t agree with the principle I don’t join those types of group. I have however, often been at networking events where there have been over 5 or 6 Virtual Assistants in the room with each of us providing very different services but still under the banner of “Virtual Assistant”. When this happens, rather than feel threatened, it’s useful to find out what services your competitors actually undertake (that you might not) and use the situation to ask them if they would be willing to promote your services or form a collaboration – which in turn extends the services that you are able to provide.

I was recently contacted by a gentleman who was seeking the services of a Virtual Assistant providing all the services of a PA i.e. diary management, letters, flight bookings etc. As I don’t provide all the services he required I was pleased to be able to pass him on to another VA who does exactly what he was looking for – therefore providing a solution to his request. How disappointed he would have been if I had been the only VA in the group unable to provide the service he wanted!

There are, no doubt, some networking groups where this lock out practice may well work. For example in situations where the attendees are from large organisations and sending representatives on their behalf – so there is no point in having 3 or 4 reps from the same company. However as most networking groups are designed for small businesses let’s keep the new characters coming in and let’s keep the doors open to every sector – allowing everybody more freedom of choice.