Create Confident Connections!

One thing I’ve learned as a business owner is that you never turn down an opportunity to visit a networking association’s meeting. As a coach, the more I know about an association, the better able I’ll be to refer clients to the right one.

One day, one of my Hall of Fame clients introduced me to Mike Weiner of NRG (Network Referral Group). NRG is a national, Zoom-based association that currently holds about 27 1-hour on-line networking sessions every week. What I knew before the introduction was that two of my best customers had already joined NRG. After speaking briefly with Mike, he invited me as his guest to attend one of the networking sessions. He also promised me that I would get three referrals just for taking part in it.

While it wasn’t my intent to join NRG (I was only four months away from retirement at the time this took place) I was very anxious to learn more about the organization. As it turned out, Mike Weiner is a master of creating confident connections. There were about 10 people on during the session I participated in and he rattled off referrals to each one of the members off the top of his head — also providing phone numbers and additional contact information as appropriate. Because I was retiring, I said I didn’t need any referrals, still I wound up getting six new customers as a result of my participation in that one meeting.

Since, like Mike, I also like to make connections, I made about a dozen introductions to the people in that group the same day and more subsequently as I thought of them. I also made about 15 referrals to Mike Weiner and several of them joined NRG on the spot! What I learned from this experience is that Mike created a very effective business model that produces immediate results. All customers want big and quick returns on their investment. One lady on the initial call said that she’d only been in the organization for several months and had already received a 35-time return on investment for her membership fee.

If you’re going to take the time to create confident connections for other people, they will stop seeing you as a networking contact and view you more as a revenue source. This is an excellent way for you to build your business indirectly while focusing directly on helping others build their businesses.

“Succeeding in business is all about making connections.” – Richard Branson

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message live Super Seminar Mega-Mixer on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.