Networking Monkey

Building Your "Dream Team" in Networking
By: Steve Fretzin

Being effective doesn’t just mean giving selflessly to everyone you can, although that is certainly a major component. It’s also about understanding who your "key players" are.

As we lean into another month of networking events and one-on-one meetings to build our businesses, we should remember the importance of being a professional networker. Being effective doesn’t just mean giving selflessly to everyone you can, although that is certainly a major component. It’s also about understanding who your “key players” are. Taking care of your most trusted and significant referral partners can mean the difference between success and failure in building your business. Here is a baseball analogy that might help you understand the importance of putting together the right referral team. 

Imagine you are a scout for a major league baseball team looking for the best players in the world to play for your club. You would typically go out time and time again watching the players, asking them about their background and maybe even their hopes and dreams. What are they willing to do to be the best at the game and win championships? After much searching, inquiring and qualifying, you decide to invite one in to play ball for you.

Does this new player go right to the starting line-up of your major league team? Of course not, we would put him into our minor league squad to see how he does. Only after he shows his true colors, talent and skills do we consider moving him up to the big leagues. So, how does this relate directly to networking?   Many of the networkers I meet out there are traveling from event to event, meeting to meeting, not getting the results from their efforts. If that is the case, this might be the secret formula you’ve been waiting for.

When developing the best referral partners through your networking efforts, follow the same general guidelines as the baseball scout from the major leagues. Scout for new and better partnerships at the events you attend. Meet one-on-one with the best and brightest to discuss how you may help each other. Keep in mind that you just met this individual and shouldn’t put him on your main referral team just yet. Try him out first by asking yourself the following questions:

 ·         Does this person truly get the true meaning of networking?

·         What is the size and connectivity of his network?

·         Is he the best at what he does, and can he prove it?

·         How is he doing at referring you, as you refer him?

·         Are you being more successful with this person than with someone else in his same industry?

Depending on how you answered those questions, there may be a great reason to either move him up, to the side, or out of your referral team entirely. Creating the “Dream Team” of referral partners takes time, patience and resolve. Making the experience a quid pro quo is the most important part of any successful networking partnership. Sometimes it is best to take baby steps forward with people you like and believe in, before rushing in too fast. Once someone has proven himself as a quality referral partner, get him in the starting rotation and win some championships together.
 
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