Take a moment to have a look around the room. What do you see?
Does your chapter have a good mix of members: males and female, millennials through to baby boomers, and a range of backgrounds and industries? If you do, your chapter will almost certainly have a lot of energy and referrals because of this diversity.
In networking, diversity is power
If you don’t have a diverse chapter, now is a good time to think about how you can attract members from different walks of life.
Why does diversity lead to business activity?
Think for a moment about networking. If you have a small circle of people, all from the same background, you will constantly be pitching your business to the same group of people. Even if you enlarge the circle, if you are talking to people from the same sort of background, there will be a limit to the business you can attract.
If you are able to get access to people from other backgrounds however, you will engage with businesses and individuals from all sorts of circles. This will lead directly to more interest in your business and more referrals.
A gender imbalance
During a survey of 12,000 people, it was found that those who are more relational gain more business and are overall more proficient networkers. While men tend to be more transactional in the way they network, women are more relational.
However, just because women are more likely to generate new business through referrals, this doesn’t mean that only they should have a place in networking groups. In order to have the most successful networking group possible, there needs to be a great amount of diversity. It’s ideal to have a blend of different people because that diversity is an important aspect of successful networking which networking groups must adhere to.
The more diverse a group is, the more connected it becomes. When networking groups become more connected, deeper relationships are formed, ultimately leading to more referrals and greater success.
A generation gap
Does your chapter have a good mix of people of all ages? Do you have baby boomers, and members from generation X and Y?
It’s especially important to engage with millennials (generation Y) – those born from the 1980s forward. As the buying power of millennials increases, entrepreneurs seeking their business must understand that members of this generation expect to be treated as individuals. Representatives of this tech-savvy, media-connected generation tend to be independent politically, a trait that carries over into their personal lives.
Be proactive and plan how to attract members that improve the diversity of your chapter and watch the referrals grow.
