Episode 646: Is Your Network Deep or Shallow? (Classic Podcast)

Note: This is a rebroadcast of Episode 382.

Synopsis

Chances are your network is both deep and shallow. All networking connections start out shallow, and you often don't know more about the people you meet at networking events than the superficial things you hear about them there.

BNI is an opportunity to deepen your network, because you meet the same people week after week and can get to know them better. It's the deep relationships, the ones where you know about people's families, hobbies, and personal goals, that are the most powerful.

To build a deep network, pay attention to what people say when you talk to them. The expert on this is Harvey Mackay, as exemplified in Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty. He makes notes, and when he meets a person for the second time, he remembers the names and ages of their children.

We have a tool in BNI for turning a shallow network into a deep network: it's the GAINS Exchange. This exercise can benefit you as a member and increase referrals even between members who have known each other for years.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 382 -

Priscilla:Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by the NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, how are you and where are you?

Ivan:Hi Priscilla. I am in the LA area at BNI headquarters this week. We had our big conference last week and we are training national directors from around the world. We are getting close to 60 countries now and so we have a number of new countries that are here at BNI headquarters.

Priscilla:How many members do you think there are in BNI?

Ivan:I can tell you almost exactly 171,000 members.

Priscilla:That is a lot!

Ivan:It has been Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Priscilla:I bet.

Ivan:Incredible growth in the organization. Today we are going to talk about the subject of is your network deep or is it shallow? Is your personal network and your professional network deep or shallow? Chances are it is a little bit of both. The questions are how strong is the deep part of your network?

A shallow network is where all of the people meet and basically start out and where in my opinion, far too many of them, will remain. You meet and you learn a little bit about a lot of people, but you don’t do much deeper. BNI is a little bit of an exception because you are meeting people every single week and you are able to go deep with them. So BNI is a great way to take your network deep in many places.

But you know, this goes beyond that because you are networking elsewhere, or you should be networking elsewhere, like chambers, service clubs, those kinds of organizations. You don’t know, oftentimes, much more about those people than the superficial things that you pick up as you meet them at the other networking events.

A deep network is one that contains contacts who you know a lot more about and who usually know a whole lot more about you. It’s great to have a large network, but if your network is a mile wide with tons of people but no deep relationships, or very few of them, it will never be very powerful. You need to have a wide and a deep network with some relationships that go really deep. To maximize those relationships, you need to know as much about that person as you possibly can.

For example, you want to find out about their family, their hobbies, their interests. One of the masters of developing a deep network is Harvey Mackay. Harvey wrote Swim with the Sharks and he wrote Dig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty. I know Harvey. It is truly amazing to me just how much information Harvey asks for and retains.

I am pretty confident he doesn’t remember it all. He writes it down.