Synopsis

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

Today’s question comes from Johann, a self-professed networking addict:

Can a person network too much within the BNI framework?

The short answer to this question is yes. But it depends on whether you are networking wide or networking deep. It’s possible to network too widely and not deeply enough. A story about someone known as “The Queen of Networking” illustrates this.

People called this woman “The Queen of Networking” because they saw her at every event and she always talked to every single person there. When she met Dr. Misner at one of these events, she told him that she went to 8-10 networking events every week but wasn’t getting any business.

The problem was that she was focusing too hard on the Visibility part of the VCP process, and spreading herself too thin. What she needed to do establish Credibility by making deeper connections with people she had already met. Only then would she be able to get to Profitability.

If you are networking too widely, do more one-to-ones and GAINS Exchange. But even then, you want to pace yourself. If you’re spending more than 8 hours a week on networking, you might be at risk of networking burnout.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 468 –

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:

Wow, I am actually home this week. I have been traveling a lot and I am back in Austin, TX, doing this interview overlooking Lake Austin and working from home this week.

Priscilla:

That sounds beautiful. So can you network too much?

Ivan:

Yeah, this is a question that comes from Johann. Johann gave me a story. It is a great story. He admits to basically being in a networking 12 step program. He says he is a bit of a networking addict and he has accumulated a ton of CEU points from doing one to ones. His question is can a person network too much within the BNI framework?

Johann, I am going to answer the question both from within and outside BNI. It is important that I go through the whole answer because the short answer is yeah, people can definitely network too much. I know that is counterintuitive to the Founder of the world’s largest networking organization, that you could be networking too much. But that is really the truth.

The key here to me is networking wide or networking deep. Johann, you say that you do a lot of one to ones. To me, that is networking deep. If your personal network is a mile wide and only an inch deep, it will never be a powerful personal network. So if your networking is really about building strong referral relationships with people, it is a little harder to network too much- but it is absolutely possible to network too much.

I will gave you a case in point. I was traveling through the midwest a few years ago when I kept hearing people talk about a woman who was at this event. They called her the Queen of Networking. She was not a BNI member. This was a big event. They called her the Queen of Networking. By the way, this is not Hazel Walker.