by Garry Spotts

Created on: July 21, 2009

Effective Networking begins with the goal of establishing trusted agency with your existing and potential customers and clients.

A maxim that will be useful for you to remember is: "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Yet once they know how much you care, you better know something of value to them." Trusted agency occurs when your client trusts your ideas, your service and or your product to the degree that you remain top of mind as the first point of resort when they have a need. Creating Trusted Agency is the highest goal of authentic networking.

Traditionally, most people think of networking as filling a room with business owners and unleashing them on one another to see who wants or needs the service or product I have to offer.

Real Networking should begin with an honest intent to help others increase their business success while increasing your own. When you enter a networking event, you want to discover from as many people as possible:

1.) where their company is going in the next 3 years,

2.) who I can connect them with in order to help them achieve their goals and

3.) what if anything I can do to help them achieve their goals.

Until you determine the first two things there is no reason to begin talking about the services or products you have to offer. While this approach may not produce a direct or immediate increase to my bottom line, it will generate real Relationship Capital which can leveraged with others who may need your new contact's product or service, or at a later time.

Ask yourself the following question. "How long do I plan to remain in business: 1 year, 5 years or indefinitely?" Once you have answered this question you will be armed with the resolve to create relationships in the thousands, confident that many of them will produce a return as some point in your business life cycle.

The return may not be realized in this fiscal year, but by creating a relationship and facilitating connections between those you meet and someone who can serve them, you increase your value. In this way, you broker relationships that produce success and empower you as a trusted agent to other businesses and your customers.

Depending upon your business products or service one of the most powerful means of achieving trusted agencyis through an established certification process. Explore the value of certification as a means of tapping a sticky customer base and establishing trusted agency within a proven network.

As you engage people at your next networking meeting mining for that big deal that will set you up for life, don't overlook the latent opportunities to create Relationship Capital. Today you can become a trusted agent who will net future business profits. You must decide to build mutually productive and beneficial relationships with other business owners and your potential customers.

Actively listen to the people you meet; they may show you the niche that will underpin and accelerate your future business success. Developing Relationship Capital is the most effective means of gaining power in your niche market.

Here is one final thought about networking success and building relationship capital, "Every Opportunity to prosper flows from some relationship, either one that currently exists or one that you are willing to initiate, perhaps this evening." "If you don't have all the success you want or need, it is simply an indication that you don't have enough quality Relationships."

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