Business Builders Podcast

6 ways to improve at business networking

February 06, 2021 Brenton Gowland & Ron Tomlian Season 1 Episode 1
Business Builders Podcast
6 ways to improve at business networking
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

To prepare for success this year our hosts Brenton Gowland and Ron Tomlian talk about the importance of business networking. 

Widely misunderstood, business networking is often integral with:

  • Winning new work,
  • Gaining industry insights,
  • Finding new roles,
  • Accelerating personal development,
  • Developing relationships with referral partners,
  • and much more.

Ron and Brenton provide their top 6 tips on how you can increase your business networking skills today.

The Business Builders Podcast is brought to you by SA Business Builders and Nucleus – Creative Agency.

Nucleus – Creative Agency
Specialising in growing business through brand, digital, video, web, print, campaigns and marketing.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Brenton Gowland:

On today's episode of Business Builders, we're discussing how to increase your success at business networking. Ron, my co host talks about the importance of staying curious. And I share a networking tip I learned from an interview with Tom Hanks on the Graham Norton show. Welcome to our very first episode of the Business Builders podcast. We are excited to be here and we're super excited that you're listening. We're your hosts. I'm Brenton Gowland,

Ron Tomlian:

and I'm Ron Tomlian. But you can call me Ron. Now, as the name suggests, the Business Builders podcast is all about providing you, our listeners, with insights that will help you succeed in business this year. The fallout of the COVID pandemic on our businesses last year, has been significant for most businesses, and I'm pretty sure we'd be kidding ourselves if we think things will go back to normal anytime soon. In fact, what is normal, so it's more important than ever, that we work on developing ourselves and our businesses, because healthy growing businesses will see us all recover faster.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah Absolutely. And as a business owner, I couldn't agree more Ron point in case, Ron here is actually my business coach, and has been for about three years. So in fact, ever since I started my own business 14 years ago,

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah I hope so we've designed this podcast for I've always sought out people who know more than me about business, and could help me learn about how to grow my business and succeed. And that's really what this podcast is about. having discussions about topics where we can add value to what you're doing, and provide you with some insights that will give you an edge. We'll also invite guests to join us who are subject matter experts, and will have a lot of fun along the way hopefully Ron the SA Business Builders networking group that we're both part of, we think this might be a great way for us to keep in touch with everyone between events. Now, if you're listening from other states, or even globally, that's great, too. Adelaide is often being called a test market for the world. Because if you can make it here in Adelaide, you should be able to make it anywhere. So we hope you'll stay tuned and listen to our progress.

Brenton Gowland:

Yep. And a show like this doesn't happen without sponsors Ron, so we'd like to make a shout out to the fine folks at Nucleus. Okay, that just happens to be my company. So they're supporting us. But Nucleus, they specialise in growing businesses and helping them achieve their goals through brand work digital print, video campaigns, social and web and marketing. Now, our topic for today is how to increase your success at business networking. Now it's a really interesting that when you mentioned networking to people, you get some really mixed reactions from people from pure dread. I don't want to talk to people, I don't want to get in a room full of other people who are throwing business cards at me through to let me at them. But in the light of the fact that last year, we spent much of our time confined to interacting with each other on video chat, and coming up with new words like or phrases like zoom fatigue, refocusing on how we network with each other is really super important. So I've brought, or both of us have brought our three top points to talk about how to increase your success this year at business networking,

Ron Tomlian:

Yes and dutifully, like you told me, I brought my top three points, but might be worth starting with talking about what business networking really is, what's our definition. And I think when you talk to people about this sort of thing they have, if you have 10 people, they have 10 different definitions. So I've been I know you've been looking at this and studying what networking is for a while, what definition have you come up with a business networking that will help people sort of put a handle on what this is really all about?

Brenton Gowland:

Well, I believe business networking is actually really misunderstood for a start, when you ask most people like you said, what do you believe business networking is? They're going to say going to events, talking to people, swapping business cards, or some derivative thereof. But frankly, only one activity you engage in, like going to networking events, sorry, that one activity is just one small part of what networking really is. So this is what I believe business networking really is, building career long, mutually beneficial business relationships that are agnostic to where someone actually works. But they're all about staying connected to the person and forming a great relationship. And if you build those relationships correctly, and maintain that relationship, or those relationships, you could possibly get flow on work from that relationship for the rest of your career. So when you start thinking about networking like that, and your aim is to build a career long relationship, you're way less likely to go to one of these events and try to make a quick sale and of course we always, or most people I speak to hate that salesy person or salesy kind of event where people are just trying to grab your business card and, you know, talk to you for three seconds and don't really have really any desire to get to know you. But if you have in mind that I want to build a career long relationship, you're much more likely to really make an effort to get to know people. So, having said that, what do you believe the definition of business networking is Ron?

Ron Tomlian:

Well, I'm gonna make it simple. I think you've nailed it there. I like that long term perspective on networking. I've always been a strong advocate on networking being about being not a transient activity that simply done as an event. But more about building just that a network, mutually beneficial relationships. A network that endures over time because of the reciprocal benefit, that has real value to those people who are part of it. And it's, you know, to me, it's all about building, it's not about a static activity, you go to one event, and it's over and done with, it's about building over time. Well, you know, I'm going to go with what what you talked about, because I think it nails it.

Brenton Gowland:

You know, when you think about any relationship, really, if you let alone, and you don't take care of it, things just peter out. So you really need to give attention to the most important things to their relationships in our lives. And, you know, once you've built a long term network like that, the benefits are way more than just winning new work. And of course, you know, in the business world, we want to do that, particularly if you're in business development, or if you're a business owner, and so forth. But the other things that will happen is you can build long term friendships, you can gain industry insights, you can even find staff for your business through your network. And very often, you find your next job through your network, if you get well connected with people because they really know you and know what you're capable of. So basically, having a great people group of people around you is the best way that anyone can achieve just about anything. Now, we talked about the fact that we've got our three top tips to increase your success at business networking. So maybe we'll kick across to you to start Ron, how are you? What are your three points?

Ron Tomlian:

Okay? Well, my three points are not in any order of importance, but preparation, mindset, and follow up, let's go to the first one. Preparation, it may sound obvious, but if you're going to be doing networking, be prepared. And by that, I mean, a lot of the value of networking comes being prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they're presented. It starts with being purposeful about the events you choose to participate in. That is, really why are there and what are you trying to achieve? And being clear about what success looks like?

Brenton Gowland:

Yep.

Ron Tomlian:

To be clear, here, I'm not talking about how many business cards you walk away with, or how many lunches You promised to organise. Who hates that? Oh, we must do lunch. I'm talking about being clear about a net longer term perspective on building a sustainable network of mutual usefulness. At the practical end, this may be as simple as making sure you have your business cards on you, and your various versions of your elevator pitch. And we could talk about that for hours, to have a few topics of relevant business issues or current affairs prepared to start a conversation when introduced. If you can find out who's going to an event beforehand and do some research on them in their company.

Brenton Gowland:

That's great.

Ron Tomlian:

The more effort you can put into preparing for networking, the more confident you'll be, the more likely you'll be to succeed.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, 100%. When I go to a networking event, I'll generally if I can get the list from, you know, whoever the group is that we're going to and work out who's in the room and who I want to talk to, and then find out who knows them and find a way to get to them, it really makes a got a lot of success from that to just having conversations with the right people at events rather than just being stuck at a table.

Ron Tomlian:

And I think a lot of people discount the fact that it's not that hard to get those sort of lists, if you show interest. And if you're regular. And let's be fair, you've you've been purposeful about what events you're going to go to, so you can go regularly, then obtaining those sort of lists is not their hard.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. And I'll give you another tip. When I go to an event, I try and rock up early because you know, the events where they put all the business cards on the table, etc. I usually go in there and take a photo of the business cards on the, oh business cards, sorry, the name tags on the table before the event starts, and then go through all the names and work out who I need to talk to. So there's a there's a heap of things you can do when you go to an event to really get prepared. And it's all about like Ron said, getting there early thinking it through. So yeah, I think that's a great point, Ron, what what's your next one?

Ron Tomlian:

Okay, I talked about mindset and and the idea of preparation purpose leads into this really important aspect of networking. And it's all about having the right mindset. To me the right mindset is genuine curiosity. This is particularly true when you're talking about face to face situations when the temptation is to jump into sales. Going into a lunch, a conference and exhibition with I'm going to get a sale. I'm going to get a customer sets you up for failure because number one, you probably won't. And number two, you come across as a pushy, product driven or service driven salesperson. And that's the kiss of death for any conversation. People, business people in general have a very good sense of when they're being sold to, and turn off faster than a well calibrated safety valve when that happens. So, you know, don't put yourself in the situation where I'm going to make a sale, put yourself in the situations that I want to find out more about these people. In contrast to the sales approach, coming in with a mindset of genuine curiosity helps you keep your mouth shut, and you use it engaged. It encourages you to ask questions and gain information that will help you in building a stronger relationship and out of that, a stronger network. So that's my second point.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, that's.....

Ron Tomlian:

The right mindset.

Brenton Gowland:

I love. I saw this interview with Tom Hanks and Graham Norton, on the Graham Norton show, rather, where he was starring in that show a beautiful day in their neighbourhood, which, who was that American children's show host? Do you remember? Mr. Roberts, Mr. Rogers, I think, and Tom Hanks had to interview Mr. Rogers. And he said, everything he did in that movie, he was told by the director slow down, slow down, because Mr. Rogers spoke very slowly. And he said, Tom said, I learnt an acronym from Mr. Rogers, which I've kept with me. Because it's really helped me in conversations with other people. And the acronym is W-A-I-T, Why Am I Talking? To actually analyse why are you talking before you....

Ron Tomlian:

start to jump in.

Brenton Gowland:

Start to jump in?

Ron Tomlian:

But none of the more.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, I like what you said, How? How many times have you like someone you know, connected with someone on LinkedIn, and straightaway, it's a sales pitch, and your like go away. And in some of the study I've been doing, one of the people I was talking to Tony Mackay actually, he said that they put all their interactions with this particular company he was working to in the ERP system. And they worked out that it would take 16 interactions before they would get to having a business deal on the table. So when you think about that, when you go to an event, and if you start with trying to get a sale, you're not going to get anywhere, you really need to have, you know, a certain number of interactions before you get to that point. So I couldn't agree more with what you're saying.

Ron Tomlian:

I mean, let's be fair, if you're trying to I heard from a speaker once that, a guy called Andre Vltchek, that the definition of malpractice is providing the solution or providing the cure, before you've done any diagnose or investigation. If you apply that to the business situation, being able to provide the person with a solution, when you don't even know what the problem is, is pretty much malpractice. So don't go in trying to get a sale go in trying to find out what the problems the person has.

Brenton Gowland:

100%. That's great. What's your next one?

Ron Tomlian:

Okay, finally, and this is, you know, the top three, but we could go on for hours about this, I can't stress this one enough. Follow up the people you meet or engage with as soon as you can afterwards. Now, there's a caveat here, I don't mean call them as soon as you leave the event or even email them as soon as you get back to the office. Sure, develop some discipline of writing down where you went or went and when you met this person in the back of the car they gave you or, you know, whatever listing mechanism you have, as soon as you get back to the office, so you don't forget, but also jot down on a few notes about what you discussed. In my experience givers get. If you've listened in your conversation with another person. And that harks back to my second point, you'll have gleaned something they're interested in, or some topic they're struggling with. Research that topic and find a useful article that might provide a perspective or even a potential solution, send it to them, and talk about the fact that you talked about this. And they'll remember you more it demonstrates that you were listening, you're capable and interested, and that you want to start a relationship by helping them. It's that whole reciprocity idea that if you start the relationship by doing something useful for the other person, they're much more likely to be engaged and want to talk to you more. And if you remember, what we're really trying to do is build long term relationships, not just a short term transaction, then you're much more likely to get that by starting the whole thing off with you giving something out.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, that's great. I really like that. It's a bit different to going to event and shoving your business card in someone's face isn't it.

Ron Tomlian:

That's right. That's right. I mean, and let's be fair, no, but nobody reacts to somebody just throwing the business card across the table. It's great to have the contact but you You have to do something with it move forward in any way becomes part of your network.

Brenton Gowland:

And look, you don't have to respond to everyone I, that you may you obviously, if you do this well and you get to know people, then you'll find that there's maybe one or two people at a networking event that you should follow up rather than 20. And make those you know, the quality connections rather than the quantity connections,

Ron Tomlian:

Couldn't agree more quality is what it's all about, you know, walking away with 20 business cards and not doing anything with them, is some people profess that that's what networking is all about. I can't see the point in that.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. 100%. Alrighty. So I've got three as well. So mine are a little bit similar, but a little bit different.

Ron Tomlian:

Well, lets see, let's see.

Brenton Gowland:

So my first one is start with getting to trust. And it really kind of follows on from what you were saying Ron and trust is a huge topic, we could probably do a whole episode just on trust.

Ron Tomlian:

Well we might do that.

Brenton Gowland:

Agreed. But you know, every great relationship, really, it really starts to kick off when you get to that point where people trust each other. And there's this thing that really helps me and I call it the Know, Like, Trust Continuum. Firstly, people have to know that you exist, if they don't know you exist, you're not going to have a relationship with you are you, you're not going to have a relationship with them are you? So and there's 100 different ways that you can make people aware that you exist, it can be on LinkedIn, it can be at events, it can be through other people, referrals, whatever the case may be. But the first thing is becoming known. The second thing is, people gotta like you, if you don't like someone you really wont continue the conversation. So in business, we actually mostly deal with people, or do business with people that we actually like. And so that comes down to all sorts of things. It's, you know, the vibe you get from someone, how they talk, how they look, how they smell, how they interact with other people, all of these things. So if you, you work on really being genuine in getting to know someone, and that really speaks to preparation as well. You know, when you go to an event, don't just go there blass. Get dressed well do do everything you need to do. And after you spend a bit of time with someone, then you get to this point where they can start to see that the things you say are actually true that you can actually do the things you say and you get to trust, once you get to trust on the other side of trust is faith. And that's where you start working with people. So understanding that there is a process to go through to get to trust and actually start working with people I think is a good way to frame a conversation. And if we're trying to build a network, we try to compress that and you know, make the time from going from know, to trust a lot shorter. So that's my first point.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, I think that fits in pretty well with what I said about building the relationship with people. And the way to do that is by consistent follow up. So yeah, okay. Number two?

Brenton Gowland:

Ask more questions. People love talking about themselves. And if you go somewhere, and you ask them questions, you can get them to open up and start talking about themself. A few things are going to happen, you're going to learn a lot about that person. And as Ron was saying earlier, you know, if you want to find out what their problem is, start asking them questions, but it doesn't need to be about just business. You can ask them questions about themselves, what they're doing, what's happening in their industry, what's happening in their workplace, etc, etc. And when people start talking about themselves, you show that you actually value them and that you want to actually listen, the real kicker is then when they start engaging with you and asking you questions, you know that you've got engagement. So work on the kind of questions you want to ask and, and really work on asking more questions when you meet people. That's my second.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, that fits in with my genuine curiosity concept, because you can only ask questions when you're genuinely curious. And being prepared to ask questions and keep the conversation going by doing that, I think is the only way to get to know somebody and get to know the situation they're in. So okay, number three.

Brenton Gowland:

Number three, is build goodwill, there is such a thing as a goodwill bank. And I know that when people speak well of me, or they give me a gift, or they give me a referral, or they just do something to help me. It does something, it shows that they value me. And I gotta admit, when people do that, for me, I find myself wanting to do things for them. They're in top of my mind. So I would say put more deposits in the goodwill bank, then you withdraw. Because when you do that, when you do really need to help or a referral and you think I got to get to this certain business person, you can go to that person and ask them for an introduction, and they're going to do it because you've got the money in the bank, you've spent the time doing things. So that point really can be summed up by go out and do things for other people before you ask them to do things for you.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, that that builds in that whole concept of reciprocity. You know, it's not just about getting stuff it's about giving stuff It doesn't hurt to start the ball rolling by giving something out.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, absolutely. So look, that's pretty much our six points. And I think this is obviously a really important topic. So it might be worth taking, or taking some more time to talk about this in future episodes, and potentially hearing more of what comes out of the study that I'm doing at the moment. And maybe I'll spend a bit of time. Or maybe we should spend some time getting some people in here talking about what they think,

Ron Tomlian:

Well, I think there's a lot of people who are better networkers than I will ever be. So I'd love to hear what other people have in terms of their top tips. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about this whole concept. Like I said, that's very misunderstood at the moment, to a large extent. But if you think of it more holistically, looking at building strong networks, is not about transactional business card. follow ups, or business code draws, it's about developing relationships over the long term that can be mutually beneficial for those people. So.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. 100%. So I think we can wrap up now, for our first episode, Ron, what do you think?

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, fantastic. When you get to interview me?

Brenton Gowland:

Well I just heard your top three tips. That was pretty good.

Ron Tomlian:

Okay. Yeah that's fine. I'll live with that.

Brenton Gowland:

Okay, well, we will look forward to speaking with you again soon. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please make a comment. Or please ask us any questions you like. If you'd like us to discuss any topics on future episodes of the Business Builders podcast, please just send us a message through LinkedIn.

Ron Tomlian:

And I have to put this plug in. Please remember to check out our sponsor, Nucleus at nucleus.com.au. We'd like to connect with you if you want to on LinkedIn. Look up Ron Tomlin or Brenton Gowland.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. So thanks for joining us. We hope you found this useful, and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Ron Tomlian:

See you in the next episode Brenton. Bye for now

About Business Builders Podcast
About our sponsor Nucleus
About todays topic
What is Business Networking?
Tip#1 - Preparation - Ron Tomlian
Tip#2 - Mindset of genuine curiosity - Ron Tomlian
Tip#3 - Follow up - Ron Tomlian
Tip#4 - Start with Trust - Brenton Gowland
Tip#5 - Ask more questions - Brenton Gowland
Tip#6 - Build good will - Brenton Gowland
Summary and Recap
Wrap up and how to contact us