Networking events offer a place to make initial contact with people but a productive quality relationship takes more time and effort to develop than what is offered during one of these events.
I misunderstood this for years. Each time I built another great relationship that helped me in my business I would look back to how I met them, find that it was at a networking event and then run off to more networking events.
Eventually, the relationships I had and the ones I was building began to become less effective and I had to figure out why.
The answer was simple. In my efforts to quickly build more relationships I went to more networking events. I made more contacts but spent less time actually working on the relationships themselves. As I was discovering this in myself I also discovered that it was a common theme in the networking circles I was running in.
How do you build a truly quality and productive business relationship and how much time does it take?
First, you have to actually care about the person you’re talking to. You have to ask lot’s of questions, dig deep and really get to know them. When they ask you questions, you have to be honest, open, forthcoming, genuine and vulnerable. If you’re fake, the relationship will be fake. And what seems the hardest part for most, you have to be patient and stop trying to make the sale. Does that make sense?
Many people think of me as “anti networking” now but that’s not the case. I still network daily, I just don’t go to any networking events. Everyday though I spend at least a little bit of time strengthening, developing and building my network.
Need help with this? I would be more than happy to help you too, just email or text me and let’s get to work on it right away.