Why Aren't You Networking? Pt. 1

If you're in sales, whether it's B2B or door-to-door vacuum cleaner selling, you need to expand your network. I read a book years ago that said, on average, people have 250 friends. If you could get your 250 friends to introduce you to their 250 friends your network would explode.

A training school I attended wanted us to set sales goals, and from that we were supposed to work backwards to find out how many cases we needed to open, and from that how many prospects we needed to open those cases. This company was all about finding prospects. I get that, but I took it backward one more step to how many people I needed to meet.

I understood immediately that sitting in an office with a nice sign outside wasn't going to get me business. My sales were relying on me getting out and meeting people in my community, almost like a politician. Finding groups of people made me more efficient. Networking groups are great if you know where to find them.

Look for groups in your area. The chamber of commerce is an obvious choice. Check out meetup groups in your area. Some won't have dues and others will, but they'll usually let you attend a few meetings before you decide to join. There's more about this in my book.

I'll discuss more in my next post on how to make networking efficient and effective for you.

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