Episode 290: The Number 1 Trait of a Master Networker (Rebroadcast)

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This is a rebroadcast of Episode 138.

Synopsis

BNI conducted a survey for the book Masters of Networking that asked business professionals what the most important traits of a master networker were. The most important trait was following up on referrals. Not giving them, following up on them.

See Week 20 in The 29% Solution, “Follow Up Today,” for a networking follow-up report card.

Remember, the best system for following up is the one you’re going to use.

There are many kinds of follow-up. You should follow up when you meet a person, not just when you get a referral. Following up is part of building a relationship, not just closing a deal.

Leave us a comment to tell us about your experiences with following up.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 138 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you, and where are you?

Ivan:
Doing great, Priscilla! And this week I’m at the Transformational Leadership Council in Puerto Rico. This is Jack Canfield’s network that I was invited to many years ago, and I’ve been a member. We’re in Puerto Rico this week for their conference.

Priscilla:
That sounds great! Well, what do you have to share with us?

Ivan:
Well, today I want to talk about the Number 1 Trait of a Master Networker. Many years ago I wrote a book called Masters of Networking, and we did a survey. It was one of the contributions. My wife and I did this article that was in the book, and the article was based on a survey that she and I did almost 2,000 business professionals from several countries, and it was published in Masters of Networking. We asked business professionals what they felt were some of the most important traits of a master networker, and the number one trait that came back was that master networkers follow up on the referrals that they’re given.

So giving referrals, giving referrals didn’t even show up in the top five. But I thought it was interesting that the number one trait was following up on the referrals that you get, and the reason for this top ranking is that, in my opinion, if you present opportunities to someone who consistently fails to follow up successfully, whether it’s a simple piece of information, a special contact, or a qualified business referral, it’s no secret that you’re eventually going stop wasting your time on that person. They’re an embarrassment to you. Because when you give a referral, you give a little bit of your reputation away.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
If it works out well, it enhances your reputation. If it doesn’t work out well, it hurts your reputation.

And so following up is so, so very important. I talk about it in The 29% Solution at length, and I recommend, if you have a copy of the book, pick it up and take a look at Week #20, Week #20, which is on page 114 of The 29% Solution. And Week #20 is Follow Up Today. It talks about the fact that good follow-up is not just doing what’s required or what you’ve promised to do, it also involves going beyond what is expected.

One last thing, and then I’d like to maybe just open it up and chat a little bit about this, if we can. I’m often asked, Priscilla, “What’s the more effective system for following up and staying in touch with your clients?” Do you have any ideas, what’s the most effective system to follow up?

Priscilla:
I think I know.

Ivan:
What do you think?

Priscilla:
I would guess it would be a personal note.

Ivan:
It could very well be. Here’s my answer. It’s very simple, and it’s very surprising. The best and most effective system to follow up with and stay in touch with your contacts is the one you’re going to actually use. And I know I’ve talked about this on a previous podcast some time ago, handwritten notes are probably the best or notes on cards like Send Out Cards. I love the Send Out Cards and programs like it. I think it’s a great way to communicate with people when you can have it look like a handwritten note because you can do your actual handwriting with the Send Out Cards program. I love that, and I think it’s a very effective way to do it. The problem is I’m really bad at doing personal, handwritten notes. It’s one of the reasons why I like Send Out Cards, because I can do it from my computer. But handwritten notes, I’m really bad at; I just don’t do it. So is it the best technique if you don’t do it?

Priscilla:
No.

Ivan:
Clearly not. And so really, the best technique to follow up is the one that you’re really, truly going to do. And if I had to rank, order them in terms of the most effective would be that personal note, whether it be from a card like Send Out Cards or a handwritten note. That’s probably the most effective, but if you’re not going to do it, then clearly, it’s not the most effective. So if you had a great system and you don’t use it, you might as well have no system at all.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
That’s really important. If you have a great system and you don’t use it, you might as well have no system at all. So find a system that you use and that you’re going to use consistently.

In The 29% Solution, we have a real simple form called The Networking Follow-Up Report Card, and it’s very simple. It says, “Hey, here are the contact names. When did you first connect? What follow-up is necessary? When did you complete the follow-up? Did you follow up after that three months, six months, nine months? Did you follow up afterwards?” Any kind of system like that can be very effective to help track the connections and the referrals and the opportunities you have to reconnect with other people.

Priscilla:
Now, are you talking about the person who is fulfilling the referral? Like, I refer you to somebody and then you do the work and then you follow up afterwards? Is that what you’re referring to?

Ivan:
Well, there’s a lot of different ways; follow-up is important. In terms of the study we did, people were talking about following up on a referral they get. So if you gave me a referral and I didn’t follow up on it, it really made you look bad. If you give me a referral and I don’t follow up, you look bad. Of course, I look bad, too, but they don’t know me. So, it makes you look bad.

So from the study’s perspective, it was following up on the referrals they get, but the truth is follow-up as a technique, I think, is valuable in many, many different ways. It could be following up when you meet somebody. How many times do you meet somebody and they say, “You know, I’ll get back to you on that. Let me send you some information on that,” that then they don’t get back to you.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
I find that when I meet somebody that I’m often referring articles to them. I meet somebody; we talk; and I may reference some article I wrote or some article that was written by somebody else that I make reference to, and what I have a tendency to do, so I don’t forget, is I’ll say, “Hey, can I get one of your cards?” And then I’ll ask them, “Do you mind if I write on the back of your card,” which, by the way, doesn’t work in all cultures. There are many cultures around the world where writing on their card is not appropriate. You don’t want to do that. But in most North American and European countries, writing on the back of the card is no big deal. But I still say, “Do you mind of I write a note on the back of your card to remind me to send you that article?” And they almost always say, “Yeah, of course.” And I write the note on the back of their card so that when I get back to my office and I have their card and it says send them a like to such-and-such article, I remember to do that, and I do it.

As a matter of fact, if any of the listeners here have ever talked to me and I’ve said that I’d send them a link, I’d love for you to post up here, because I know I send out 99.999 percent of the articles that I say I’m going to send, and I’d love for you to be one of the people who say, “Hey, yeah, I asked him for an article, and I got that link.”

That kind of follow-up, I think, is what helps to make a master networker.

Priscilla:
Now, the question for me is, after you’ve followed up, then some times passes, and then you should follow up again is what you’re saying, right?

Ivan:
Yeah, you really should. If you’re trying to build a relationship and hopefully do business with them, you should follow up again, you should stay in touch periodically. And certainly, one way to stay in touch periodically is to try and find ways to help that person. And if you can build a relationship, ongoing referrals are based on building a relationship, and so what you want to do is follow up to build a relationship, not just follow up to close a deal. Because if you’re constantly trying to follow up to close a deal, they’re going to hide from you, but if you’re following up to help or assist or to build a relationship, then they’re going to want to stay in touch with you. Or if you’re following up to provide content and information, like newsletters or links to articles that maybe you send out to your contacts on a regular basis, that’s a value.

So there’s a lot of ways that are called touch points, how do you touch your perspective clients and existing clients. In the more ways you touch them, it’s one example of following up.

Priscilla:
Right. Okay, great! Well, would you like to add anything else to that?

Ivan:
Well, next week we’re going to do the follow-up to this, no pun intended, and that is So You’ve Got Follow-Up Covered. Now What? We’re going to talk about some of the other important traits of a master networker next week.

Priscilla:
Okay, great! Thank you so much, Dr. Misner.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I think that’s it for this week, and I’d like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.