10 Networking Secrets – Part 2

Last week, I shared with you a fair bit of insight on secrets to successful networking. We covered:

1. Offering to Give Qualified Referrals – the best way to connect
2. Defining what High Quality Prospects Look Like, with several questions to ask yourself and your colleagues, and
3. Having a Perfect Prospect Sheet that you can Pass Onwards, so people can easily refer others to you.

As promised, I return this week with Tips 4-7.

4. Have a Business Card with an Attractive Offer on the Back
5. Create and Share a Report that Leads into your Product or Service
6. Offer to do Endorsed Mailings
7. Ask for Endorsed Mailings

8. Have a Business Card with an Attractive Offer on the Back

We all like beautifully designed business cards, but your card should do a little more work for you than it likely already does. Your business card should effectively display your unique selling proposition – what you do that’s unique. Just as important, your business card should have an attractive offer on the back. This can be a free consultation, a free report, gift products – anything that’s low or no cost to you but has high perceived value to your prospects.
Why is this so important? You can pass your business card on to your contacts and when they recommend you to qualified prospects, they can pass on the “gift offer” business card. They’ll be giving a valuable gift to their friends and associates – making themselves, and you, look good.

5. Create and Share a Report that Leads into your Product or Service

What you’ve been reading so far in this blog is an example of a highly valuable report leading into a service (which would be membership in my Focused Networking groups). By sharing highly valuable information, you position yourself as an expert in your field and you generate goodwill from your prospects.
You can charge for a report or you can give it away as a gift. If your contacts know you’ll be sending a high quality gift report as the first method of contact, they’ll be far more comfortable sending you high quality referrals. Other alternatives to reports are valuable audio CDs, DVDs, files on a drive, or even a physical, information-packed presentation targeted to your ideal prospects.

6. Offer to do Endorsed Mailings

If you know of a business that provides excellent products or service, you can offer to send an endorsed mailing to high quality prospects you know. What is an endorsed mailing?
Simply put, you send a letter of recommendation written by you to highly qualified prospects explaining the benefits of a particular product or service the business you are endorsing supplies. It helps to mention their exemplary service and your personal experience with them. Endorsed mailings are inexpensive and very effective. Again, by offering to do an endorsed mailing, you turn around the usual process – giving to other business people first while simultaneously building goodwill and trust.
Do exercise caution with this tactic, however. The greatest asset you have in business is the trust you’ve built with your clients. Be absolutely certain that any product or service you endorse is exemplary and excellent value for the money.

7. Ask for Endorsed Mailings

The quickest way to get another business to give you an endorsed mailing is to provide a high value gift offer in the mailing. This gift offer – often a high value report as mentioned above – leads into your product or service.
The best people to ask to do an endorsed mailing for you are people who’ve already used your product or service and know the excellent quality work or products that you provide. You can also ask these people for testimonials which you can use to provide a compelling case for other business people to recommend you in an endorsed mailing.
One last technique is to offer low cost or free trials of your product or service to key business people with substantial influence and respect, so they can recommend you with confidence in an endorsed mailing.
Next week, I will finish the Top 10 Secrets of Business Networking, so please check back again soon. If you have any questions in the meantime, please give me a call. And get networking!