Getting Quality Referrals is all about knowing how to ask for them. Being able to articulate what we are looking for is not always an easy task.

This week we had Donna Willon of Focused Networking take us through a couple of exercises aimed at asking for Quality Referrals.

What’s My Line:

Knowing what to say and how and when to say it can mean the difference between being heard or having your words lost in the crowd. This is especially true in Business Networking where you typically have less than 30 seconds to capture someone’s attention – kind of like advertising.

30 second elevator pitch or 3 minute dialogue, not only do you need to have the right words, but you need to Continue reading Quality Referrals →

Last weeks Blog was about Making a Return on your Networking Investment. A big part of making that return is closing the sale. Graham Winfrey, Staff Writer for INC list  5 Tips for Closing a Sales. Here is my take on those 5 tips:

5 – 12 Contacts to Close a Sale:

Research show that it takes between 5 and 12 contacts to close a sale. That doesn’t mean that you call the potential customer 5 to 12 times asking them for the sale. So what do these 5 to 12 contact points look like? We’ll come back to that in a minute.

Use a CRM:

Using a Customer Relations Management tool can increase your close rate and customer retention. Graham’s article lists some interesting statistics Continue reading Make Money Networking →

Last week we talked about Networking with a Purpose. How networking needs to be focused in order to generate results, and the tangible and intangible costs of networking. This week we’re going to look at the ROI of networking.

There is no magic formula for calculating the ROI you get from networking. In doing the research for this article, the only figures I found were from Dr. Ivan Misner founder of Business Networking International, better known as BNI. The articles I did find all seemed to agree on one thing, the longer you stick with a network, the greater your ROI, which makes Continue reading Networking ROI →

I’ve said it before, networking for business is an essential part of any business marketing. But how do you know if your networking is paying off?  If you don’t have a plan, you may be missing your mark.

Networking is Work

Networking requires a consistent and dedicated effort. You can’t show up at a network group once or twice and expect to get results. Remember, we do business with people we know, like, & trust. Those types of relationship take time to develop. Continue reading Networking with Purpose →