Synopsis

This episode is part of the Ask Ivan series. If you have a question for Ivan Misner, email him at [email protected].

Today Dr. Misner is answering two questions about time spent networking–from completely different perspectives.

Tina in Canada writes “I was planning on hiring extra people next year, and I was wondering how much time I should spend on networking.”

Dr. Misner’s book Business Networking and Sex–Not What You Think surveyed 12,000 people and found that the average amount of time spent networking by both men and women is about six and a half hours. Your goal is not to be average. The people who are really successful spend more time than that. Dr. Misner thinks an optimum amount of time is 8 hours a week. This is especially true if you are going to hire employees.

To make this work, it’s important to diversify your network. Look into the local chamber of commerce, professional associations, and doing more one-to-ones. Remember that the grass is greener where you water it.

Anita in Germany writes “We have lost members because they became so successful that they don’t have time to network.”

When members leave BNI and say it’s because they’re too busy, that’s often an excuse. There’s some other reason that they’re leaving.

Don’t take “I’m too busy” at face value. Conduct an exit interview. (See more about exit interviews in Episode 230.) Ask the same question in different ways in order to get to the real answers.

More times than you might imagine, the member is not happy with something going on in the chapter but doesn’t want to make a big deal of it. If you address the problem, the member is much more likely to stay.

What a successful businessperson does when s/he is too busy is hire more people. People who are committed to growing their businesses make time for networking.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 443 –

Priscilla:

This is part of our Ask Ivan series. If you have a question for Ivan, email him at this address: [email protected].

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by 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, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:

Hey. This is my first visit this week to our new BNI headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. I am really excited to be here in our new office. We had kept a regional office in Los Angeles. We are opening offices in Europe. We plan on opening offices in- we have one in Ireland now. We are going to open some other offices around the world, and our new headquarters is now in Charlotte, North Carolina. That is where I am this week.

Priscilla:

Oh, that is great. Well, you have an interesting podcast for us today.

Ivan:

Yeah. Two questions that you are going to read, and I will try to answer. They are interesting because they are both about time networking but from completely different perspectives. So let’s tackle these. I think they should be interesting.

Priscilla:

Okay. Well, the first question comes from Tina who is in Canada. She asks, “I was planning on hiring extra people next year, and I was wondering how much time I should spend on networking.”

Ivan:

Tina, that is a great question.