Block Out Time for Networking

If you now have goals for your networking, what next? You need to plan to make them happen, and that means setting aside time and perhaps a little money.

Ask yourself:

• How much time will I dedicate to networking each week?
• What percentage of my marketing budget will I dedicate to word-of-mouth activity?
• How many meals each week will I eat with someone else? (Or you may prefer Rob Brown’s advice to just drink more coffee!)
• How many new people do I want to meet each week?

Build the answers to these questions into a plan and a budget for your networking.

How much time is appropriate? A survey by BNI found that 52% of business professionals spend less than four hours each week on networking. That’s probably not enough. 27% spend more than eight hours. And 21% are somewhere in between. The 27% have probably got it about right.

If sales is only part of your responsibilities, eight hours seems about right. On the other hand, if sales is most of your job, then you need to dedicate much more. Networking is about generating referrals over time for your business. If you want to build a referral-based business, and most of your job involves sales, your networking efforts should be consuming more than half of your time—yes, over 20 hours per week.

Action this week! Get out your iPhone, Android, Outlook calendar, Filofax or desk diary, or call in your personal assistant—whatever tool you use to ensure you are in the right place at the right time—and block out time for networking. Do it right now!

If you can’t set aside the full 8 or 20 hours next week, set a lower target and work up to the full amount over the next month or so. Track how much time you are actually spending on networking activity. Use colour-coding in your diary if that helps.

Building a value-generating network is real work. You need to:

• Collect a diverse set of contacts
• Convert your contacts into connections—deepen your relationships
• Pump value into your network by making new connections—make referrals and introduce the people you know to each other.

Set aside the right amount of time to do all this and then the value—the referrals you want—will start flowing towards you.

This article is similar to an educational talk I gave at a BNI Premier networking breakfast. It is based on material in The 29% Solution by Ivan Misner.

There’s a great story behind the reference to Rob Brown’s article.