What Every Salesperson (Everyone) Should Know About Networking (LinkedIn)

What I am about to say is a lesson I learned from a very good friend and skilled networker who,  for the purposes of this article I’ll call “Bob”.

One evening in 2006 I went to a networking event at Bob’s recommendation. About an hour into the event Bob pulled me aside and said:

Flyn it looks like you really know how to work a room. I’ve been watching you and you seem very comfortable moving around and meeting people.

To which I replied, yea, it’s easy, after 20 plus years of sales management and consulting I don’t have any problem starting a conversation.

He asked, when you meet these folks what do you do?

I told him that I simply introduce myself and then usually start with a question about the event; Like “Do you come to these often?” to get the conversation going. After some basic chat I would tell the person what I did and give them a card in exchange for theirs.

He then asked me – “The people who have come up to you, did they take the same approach?”

Yes.

He then said, so everyone in the room is going around to everyone else trying to solicit an engagement – right?

Yea, I guess…

Do you think it is profitable to be one of the crowd or would it be better to differentiate yourself?

Obviously, if I could differentiate myself that would be much better. But how do I do that?

Bob then proceed to explain that what I was doing is prospecting and not networking. He pointed out that it would be unlikely that any of the people I had approached would feel comfortable introducing me to the people they know. After all would you sick a salesperson on your friends and associates? Not likely.

He then told me, if you really wanted to profit  from this effort I needed to provide a value first – without any thought of getting anything back. This is how you differentiate yourself.

He then asked me “What if you could give them something of value – what do you think they would do?” Do you think they’d be more receptive next time you call?

Of course!

Do you think they might be more inclined to introduce you to people they know? Do you tell your friends and associates about things or people of value?

Yea.

He then told me the real secret to networking. Make an attempt when you meet people to provide them with value and NOT talk about yourself. He said if you can meet ten people and none of them know what you do at the end of the evening – you’ll be a hit. This is especially true when you follow up, not trying to sell them anything, but to help them out by providing them with some value.

I told this story from the point of view of a networking event as that is how it occurred. But the truth of the matter is that if you drop the prospecting and work the relationship first, you will profit far more than if you take the “prospecting approach.”

You will find that the natural universe hates an imbalance. If you outflow enough value, it will soon start to return in even greater proportions and from the places you’d least expect. This is not only the secret to working a live event but also the secret to LinkedIn.

It is so common for those of use with sales skills to “sell” instead of network, and it simply doesn’t work. Become invaluable and you will find all kinds of opportunity.

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