Community Day 6: Starting with networking when you don’t know anyone.
This is a fantastic topic. A year and a half ago I showed up at my current BNI group, and despite having lived in Northern Virginia for years I didn’t have ANY connection to the members of that chapter. My current network was relatively small and there was no way (at least that I knew at the time) to leverage my current network to break into this entirely new networking scenario.
So the answer to this question held a special interest to me because I have really been able to expand my networking, especially from what I have learned from sticking around Coach Powell 
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I have since gone into entirely new networks and worked hard to make myself known in those networks. But I have often been able to leverage my current network to usher that process along.
If you were suddenly without your current network, what are some strategies that you think that you might employ to get a new group of people to know you, like you, and trust you?
I know that I would work very hard to establish my competancy before anything else. That way people would be encouraged to try out my services or products and then I would have a chance to show them my character as a person. Thats what I have done with countless BNI chapters that I have visited and it has worked pretty well so far.
What are some strategies that you have used?
God Bless,
-Coach Kolansky
Getting started is the most exciting time for every new networker. There is nothing but opportunity in front of you. If you have a real plan, you can experience phenomenal success quickly. It’s important to remember that word-of-mouth can spread like wild fire. So do everything that you can to make sure that it goes in the right direction for you. Too many people jump right into the deep end without so much as life raft. I suggest that you apply to a great BNI chapter first. After you’ve sharpened your skills, then jump right in. The water is fine!
-Coach Powell
If I was suddenly without my current networks, I would start at the beginning (like I did when I started my business). Knowing what my business model was, I researched where I would find my target market. I hosted Car Care Seminars for women which started to build my reputation. I contacted,and joined, my local Chamber of Commerce, hosted more seminars and positioned myself as an industry expert. Word of Mouth about the seminars took off. I then heard about BNI and visited many groups. I choose one where there was great potential for me to become active, participate and grow with that chapter. Again, hosting more seminars allowed clients to know me, like me, and trust me. I continue to host seminars for women, groups, senior citizens, and scout troops.
When you have a plan and believe in what you do, the sky’s the only limit.
Establishing myself in a network was difficult. I jumped into this self employment thing with both feet- beginning my business and establishing my first network relationships all at once in a totally new geographic area. I had no clients to speak of, and was trying to build credibility in the accounting field, of all things!! Being somewhat of a wall flower, it was uncomfortable for me to jump forward and chit chat with someone I didn’t know. I had public speaking experience from my previous job of almost ten years, but somehow, this was different and awkward for me. I was talking about me, not a tax or bookkeeping concept. I think the first mistake I made was to tell everybody about what I did in a resume format (I was used to the corporate world). I was so anxious to build credibility that I went into every detail of my vast experience, well over the sixty second buzzer, which at that time, held no meaning for me. When I did learn that I had only sixty seconds to present my best foot forward, it was like a quiz and I choked. I think what helped me the most was learning to listen to the other person. Pick one or two people that you feel drawn to and ask about them. Listen to what they have to say and build on what you have in common. Don’t worry so much about you, it will come out in the conversation naturally. Develop a sixty second manager minute that tells a story, or describes what makes you different from all the other people in your industry. But most of all, use your two ears and one mouth proportionately. You will be amazed at how listening will guide you in the right direction.
Coach has talked about the power of stories in the past at CTYM. It seems to me that it is the story that we have to tell which really goes towards building credibility and jump-starting a network. I mean, we have past experience (yes, despite what people think of my age, I did have experiences to draw upon when I first joined BNI =P ) to pull from that gives us a very unique and interesting tale about where we came from, where we are now, and where we are going.
Since we live in a “postmodern” world, stories are almost the core of everything that we are as people. It is the currency of our world.
So I could really see how hosting a seminar, etc, could really give you a chance to share your story and garner people’s trust and develop word of mouth
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I suppose it would serve someone well to really sit down and think out their story and how they relate to a market before they attempt to use networking to breach into that market because it’ll put them several steps ahead in building a connection with the people that they meet.
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The one mouth, two ears used proportionally part is a good tip, too. One I gotta heed a little more
. Lol.
-Dan