The Keys to Networking Success

The Keys to Networking Success

There seems to be a notion going around that networking as a means to expand a business is dead – that it’s just not a viable way to accomplish significant business growth. I constantly hear people complain about how much time they put into “networking” with nothing to show for it but a desk drawer full of business cards and no sales or recruits.

“Networking is just a waste of time,” they tell me. “Everyone I try to network with is just trying to sell me on their deal and don’t care about what I offer at all!”

When they say that, they’re telling me a lot about how much they actually understand about networking – which, based on comments like that, would appear to be little or nothing!

People who voice such complaints about networking not being effective are obviously under the impression that networking is a sales process.

It isn’t!

While more sales and subscriptions can definitely be accomplished as a by-product of effective networking, selling directly to the person you’re networking with is not the core purpose of networking. When people focus only on that, to the exclusion of all else, they’re not networking…

They’re just “selling!”

Networking is really all about expanding your sphere of influence.

Each individual has a sphere of influence – a group of people who they know, and who value their opinions and relationship with them. In some cases, these spheres of influence overlap with those of other people, such as within church, professional, and civic organizations. But in many other instances, each person within your sphere of influence has their own individual sphere of influence which may not overlap yours at all – or at most, only very little.

What is at the very core of, and the driving force behind, effective networking is the expansion of your own personal sphere of influence into that of others you are networking with – and theirs into yours as well. It’s a 2-way street, with both parties realizing some type of benefit.

If you’ve been involved in internet marketing for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard about those $10,000 seminars that the “big guns” hold fairly regularly. While the information that’s presented at those events is valuable, more often than not the real reason people pony up that sort of money to attend is to gain access to, and to network with the other attendees!

That isn't just my opinion - I’ve heard many of them come right out and admit it in their emails.

Bear in mind that each of those people who pay ten grand to attend has a sphere of influence (their email subscriber lists) which extends to tens of thousands of people. (Some actually have subscriber lists numbering in the hundreds of thousands!)

Now I ask you - what would it be worth to you to be able to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk with someone who has an opt-in list of over 100,000 people, and they are also open to listening to new business ideas?

(And they all are, or they wouldn’t be there. They would just wait for the course to be released and buy it.)

Most of those people don’t bat an eye about writing out a check for ten grand, because they know how to effectively network with the other attendees. In the process, they often work out a joint venture with other attendees that ends up netting them ten times that amount (conservatively)!

They understand the power of real networking – by leveraging the spheres of influence of other people! It’s really about the sharing of ideas and strategies that are mutually beneficial.

You don’t have to have a list of tens of thousands to network effectively. In fact, it's often the other way around. Building a larger contact list is one of the natural by-products of effective networking. If you’re a member of any online social networks, consider your “friends list” there.

We all network every day – we just don’t consciously realize we’re doing it most of the time. Every time you meet someone you haven't met before, and try to get to know them, you're networking. There may not be an obvious immediate benefit for either of you, but by becoming acquainted with new people you're expanding your sphere of influence.

But remember that networking is not selling – it’s sharing. Share yourself, your knowledge, and your expertise with others so that they will be willing to introduce you to their spheres of influence. That makes the sort of impression which is both lasting and profitable for all concerned, through the leveraging of overlapping spheres of influence.

At My VM Team, each member has developed a considerably-sized sphere of influence, and the leverage it provides all of our members grows as correspondingly! With a wide diversity of people of all levels of experience and expertise, and representing an equally diverse field of business interests, My VM Team has only just begun sending ripples across the internet that are welling up into waves of change as our collective spheres of influence increase.

We’re accomplishing that through networking, which is indeed very far from dead – in fact, it’s really only beginning to come into its own on the internet, and you can expect to see it become an ever-growing trend as we continue to share our knowledge with anyone and everyone who wishes to learn how we do it – all at no charge.

To learn more, (especially how to really start networking effectively with an energetic and motivated group of people) I invite you visit http://www.myvmteam.com/.

And when you understand how to really network, you can put that knowledge to work for you in a big way at www.Directmatches.com/donhill as well.