Synopsis -
In This Episode, Dr. Misner Explains What Speed Networking Is, How He Feels It Can Be Best Used, and How BNI Chapters Can Employ It If They Choose Tto:

Ivan Likes Speed Networking For Its Ability To Elevate Your Visibility But Believes It Is Not Sufficient To Complete The VCP Triad Which Also Includes Credibility and Profitablity

Start With The End In Mind: You’re Not Going To Bag The Big One Or Even Close A Small Sale At A Speed Networking Event - You Are There To Meet New People With Whom You May Eventually Do Referral Business

Conduct The Exercise As A Mini-Interview Where You Can Find Out How You Can Help The Other Person Build Their Business

Write Notes During Each Meeting (Perhaps Using A GAINS Profile Sheet) And Be Sure To Follow-Up With The Important New Contacts You Make

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 024 -

Frank Felker:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the official BNI podcast, brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I’m Frank Felker in Washington DC joined on the phone today again by Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. How are you today Ivan? How is the weather out there?

Ivan Misner:
I’m doing great, Frank. The weather is always sunny in southern California.

Frank:
I’ve heard that. Isn’t there a song that goes something like that?

Ivan:
I think so.

Frank:
You have an interesting topic today. It’s speed networking. I have worked with speed networking in another type of organization that I had tested the waters in before I had gotten involved with BNI. To tell you the truth, I actually enjoyed it and felt that I had gotten a lot out of it. But I’ve never seen it in BNI. I’m curious to see what you have to say about speed networking in regards to BNI.

Ivan:
Speed working networks are showing up all over the world. They tend to be a fun, exciting initial way to make initial connections. It’s a very different environment from what we do at BNI.

Speed networking programs generally involve people meeting each other for a short interval and then moving on to the next person in line. They tend to be pretty structured in a way that people kind of queue up to meet. For example, one variation is to have two concentric circles of people who will sit across from one another and after a set period of time, perhaps one or two minutes, the outside circle of people gets up and moves one direction and the inside circle goes in the other direction or stays put. You go around and make sure that you meet everybody for couple of minutes. Is that similar to the kind of thing that you did?

Frank:
Yes that’s exactly what we did.

Ivan:
As the founder of the world’s largest business referral organization, you might be surprised to learn that I have some definite opinions. Or maybe you aren’t surprised to learn that.

Frank:
I thought you might.

Ivan:
I do. But it might surprise you as to what my opinion is. I think speed networking is a great way to meet other business professionals in a short period of time. It’s a good tool for business people to apply the visibility stage of the VCP process. I think I’ve talked about VCP and some other podcasts. VCP stands for visibility, credibility, profitability.

At first you establish visibility with people. Then you establish credibility and overtime, you get to a profitability stage where you are passing referrals back and forth. In a BNI context, we hope that most of the members are very soon having credibility and profitability where they’re passing referrals to each other.

As long as you understand that speed networking generally is aimed at the first stage which is creating visibility – meeting people and very briefly getting to know a little bit about them. If you understand that, then speed networking can be very effective because you’re focusing on an area of networking that BNI is not all about. You aren’t going to meet hundreds of people at a BNI meeting. But you are establishing credibility and you’re getting referrals.

Frank:
Sure. You’re getting a much more in depth level of credibility and relationship building with BNI than you do with speed networking.

Ivan:
Right. But if you want to be successful at networking, your network needs to be both broad and deep. BNI provides that in depth networking. Programs at the chambers of commerce and mixers help to provide breadth so you could meet many, many people. That’s why I like speed networking programs.

In BNI if you are going to do them, I recommend that you get them tie it into our GAINS meetings exchange. It is a form that we have about people’s goals, accomplishments, interests, networks and skills. When you tie that into a speed networking program, I think it can be really effective.

There are really four other things that I think make good a good speed networking program. Here’s the first one. You have to start at the end in mind. You’re not going there to bag the big one. You’re not there to close a deal on the spot. In a way, it’s kind of the opposite.

I don’t know if you know this but speed networking kind of came out of the speed dating arena. At least some people feel it has and have written about it. And in dating, it is done to eliminate potential suitors, whereas in speed networking it is the opposite. You are trying to find potential referral partners. Rather than meeting to eliminate, you are meeting to include.

Frank:
I am always reminded of that scene in the 40 Year Old Virgin – I’m not sure if you have seen that movie when they do the speed dating. But certainly it was the opportunity to eliminate suitors, no doubt about it.

Ivan:
So you want to start with that end in mind, and that and is that you want to find ways to make connections with people and not ways to eliminate connections with people.

The second one is to conduct the exercise as a mini interview. Think in terms of what you can find out about the person in the meeting that will allow you to help them in some way. Forget about mining their database or trying to determine how they can help you. Find ways the either you can help them or at least that it is mutually beneficial to one another to create a relationship.

Find ways to identify when and how you can have best help your new referral people. Otherwise, you’re just hunting. A lot of people believe that networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. If you make speed networking a hunting exercise, I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly as successful for you as a farming exercise, where you would actually start the process and cultivate the relationship.

The third thing is make some notes during the exercise. If you’re not provided with some type of contact card that you can jot notes on while the exercise is going on, be sure to have your own pad or paper to write down the information that you discover. Be sure to note the person’s interests and goals.

Remember that I said one thing that we use in BNI is the GAINS exchange form. If you are listening to this and you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to your BNI director and ask them what the GAINS exchange is and get that material from them. Your chapter leadership teams have it. You can also find it in the book Business by Referral. That will help you to make notes during the exercise.

The last of the four things to remember in speed networking is follow-up.

Frank:
The old FU

Ivan:
Yes, the old FU. If you don’t follow up with those that you meet during the speed networking exercise, you will only have succeeded in wasting your time.

Frank:
I find that that is something that people fall down on time and time again and sometimes in the worst case, it is after they’ve invested thousands of dollars in trade show exhibits and they never follow up on the people that visit.

Ivan:
Yes. Now here’s the best way to follow up: if you find out something that they need, want or are looking for – if they have a problem or a challenge, what a great way to follow up. You follow up and say, “Hey, you expressed this issue, concern or problem you had and it here’s your email link to where you can find a solution.” Or, “Here’s an article that might help. Would you like to meet and talk about it?” The key is to meet and follow up. If there’s any way that you can help them, that is the best way to start to develop credibility with someone that leads you through the VCP process.

Frank:
Excellent. That’s great. Could you please recap those four steps of successful speed networking for us again?

Ivan:
Sure. The first thing is to start with the end in mind. You’re not there to bag the big one. You are there to find connections and not eliminate connections.

The second is to conduct the exercise as a mini interview. Ask them questions. You are not there to mine their database.

Third is to make notes during the exercise. Write down some information. Use the GAINS exchange card if you don’t have anything else but at least have a notepad if you don’t have that.

And then of course, follow up. It is all a waste of time if you don’t follow up. If you are going at this as though it’s about helping other people, the follow-up part actually becomes the easiest part of the process. They are thankful for you to follow up, and that’s great at helping to establish credibility.

Frank:
That is wonderful, wonderful stuff. Well unfortunately again we’re just about out of time. Is there any last pearl of wisdom the you would like to share with us this week?

Ivan:
I believe that speed networking can work if it’s done right. It can be fun. It can be energetic. It can be a dynamic way to further your own coals of having a thriving successful-word-of- mouth-based business. I think BNI chapters can absolutely do this when they do an evening event of some kind or some mixer that they are sponsoring. They are a great exercise to use it within the BNI context.

Frank:
And they’re a lot of fun because they are fast and energetic.

Ivan:
Absolutely.

Frank:
Unfortunately, that’s it for this week. For Dr. Ivan Misner, I’m Frank Felker saying we’ll see you next week on the official BNI podcast.