Anybody who enjoys sport – hockey, rugby, soccer, cricket, swimming – any sport, will be familiar with the lament: “They have to get the basics right. If they don’t get the basics right, how can they expect to win”?
The same can be said about the games we play. We all know the basics for succeeding in life, don’t we? Eat healthy, exercise frequently, listen more than you speak, spend time with the people you love… We know those things, but I’d bet my bottom dollar most of us don’t do them.
The same applies to networking. We know the basics, but we don’t practise them…For example:
- Do you take your business card holder with you everywhere you go? It is a burden in your pocket, but it is also a prompt to remind you that you are playing the networking game.
- Do you do your dances regularly, weekly or fortnightly?
- Do you prepare your sixty second to be like a sports pass – fresh, crisp and punchy? Or do you wing it when you get to the meeting?
- Do you attend meetings regularly and communicate constantly to keep a high visibility with your network?
- When you stand up and you don’t have a referral, do you give a rap or recap instead of mumbling about the fact that you don’t have a referral? Nowhere in the BNI guidelines does it say to stand up and tell everybody that you don’t have a referral. The rule of thumb is “referral or recap or rap” (if you don’t have at least one of these to give then it’s time to quit the game because you’re not even on the playing field)…
- Do you have goals for the amount of referrals you want to give and receive, the number of dances you want to attend, relationships you want to foster?
Networking is a game and like any game you have to get the basics right. Next time you lament your favourite sports’ team not getting their basics right, think about your own game…
