Synopsis

It’s not what you know or who you know–it’s how well you know them. If you approach networking with a genuine desire to get to know others, you’re going to increase your success. This applies not only to fellow BNI members, but to people you meet in any context.

Here are four tips to help you deepen relationships.

* When you meet someone new, make a personal phone call and set up a meeting to get to know each other. Do not attempt to sell this person.

* Make personal phone calls to anyone who has helped and referred you in the past. Find out what they’re up to.

* Create a touch point list of 50 people you want to stay in touch with over the course of the year, and get in touch with them.

* Two weeks after your first touch point, follow up with a call and make an appointment for a one-to-one.

Once you find your overlapping areas of interest, the relationship will begin to grow by itself.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 476 –

Priscilla:

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:

Hi. Actually, I am back in Austin, Texas again. I have spent a few weeks here this month. I am on the road so much it is great to be home for a few weeks.

Priscilla:

Great.

Ivan:

I am doing this podcast from Austin today.

Priscilla:

Perfect so-

Ivan:

Yeah, go ahead.

Priscilla:

No, I was just going to say why isn’t it about who you know?

Ivan:

You know, there is the old adage “it’s not what you know but who you know”, right? You have heard that. We have all heard that. You have probably said it. I know years ago, I said it. But I am here to tell you it’s not about what you know or who you know. It really is how well you know each other.

Priscilla:

Yeah. That’s good.

Ivan:

You know, networking can be so mercenary, especially if we treat networking like chess pieces, using them for your own best advantage. If you approach networking from a personal angle with a genuine desire to get to know others, you can have far greater success.So how can you deepen the relationship with people to get to the point where they are willing to help you or refer you in the future?

In this podcast, we are talking about not only BNI members but people you may meet in your networking efforts, people you may meet in a service club, people you may meet at a chamber function and, of course, people you may meet in BNI. So this applies to not only to your members that you know but also to others that you meet in networking opportunities.

I am going to give you four different techniques that will help you deepen your existing relationships with people to get to the point where they would be willing to help you or refer you in the future.

Priscilla:

Okay.

Ivan:

One is give them a personal call. I know, I know- calling someone on the phone is so last century, but hear me out here. Sending an email or a text won’t get the same results as someone as actually making the effort to call someone. So set up a 1-2-1 and do not, do not, do not try to sell them something. Set up this meeting to deepen the connection to start to build a professional relationship.

Now, if you don’t want to do a phone, I think Skype calls are great, especially Skype video. So you know, if you are dealing with somebody who does Skype video, Skype video them and have a conversation with them...