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- [00:00]
Priscilla Rice
Episode number 914, Five Important Things for great Networking.
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Dr. Ivan Meisner
You're listening to the official BI podcast with BNI founder and chief visionary officer, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with suggestions and insights into getting the most from your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.
- [00:30]
Priscilla Rice
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the Chief visionary officer of BI, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you?
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Dr. Ivan Meisner
I am in Northern France this week at the B and I Conference in France. I love visiting France and I always feel so welcome and enjoyed all my visits there. So my wife and I will be there this week.
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Priscilla Rice
Oh, that's really fun. Well, that's wonderful. So what do you have to share with us today?
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Dr. Ivan Meisner
Yeah, so I want to talk about five really important things to learn to be great at networking. So if networking were a superpower, it wouldn't be flying or invisibility, it would be influence. The ability to connect, contribute and cultivate opportunity is what transforms ordinary professionals into networking legends or business legends. But being great at networking isn't about collecting business cards like, you know, Pokemon. It's a skill. And like all great skills, it's built on learning. So here are five things that you can do to really master the process of networking. Now, the first one, with each of these, or with most of these, I'm going to give you some podcasts to go back to and listen. In addition, this first one is one that some people who've been in BNI for any length of time are going to go, we've heard this. Yes, you've heard this. I have to keep hammering it home because it's critical. And that's the VCP process. Visibility, credibility, profitability. And it's not a formula. It's not visibility plus credibility equals profitability. It's a process. You go from visibility to credibility to profitability. So networking isn't a race, it's a relationship timeline. So you have to learn the VCP process first, get visible, show up consistently, then earn credibility through reliability and results. And only then comes profitability, where referrals and collaborations flow naturally. If you skip a step, you're not building a network. You're basically speed dating. So you really want to hit each one of these processes and the Credibility part takes the longest. Visibility can be as simple as consistent attendance at networking events, online presence, or following up after introductions. But credibility is the one where people stall because it takes time. You gotta follow through. You gotta build trust. Profitability is mostly about referrals. It's not about doing business. It's not like, okay, I'm gonna give you my business. It's about the, the connections that you make and the referrals that you get. So profitability is mostly about referrals for business, but it can be also a little bit broader. It can be about influence, reputation, opportunities. The VCP process is simple but really powerful. And it's the foundation of everything I teach. Skipping a stage, short circuits everything.
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Priscilla Rice
Okay.
- [03:58]
Dr. Ivan Meisner
There are so many. Yeah. You agree? Yeah, yeah. There are so many episodes on vcp. I would recommend you just go to the search function on BNI and do a search on VCP and you're going to get a lot of episodes. I am going to put a link in this podcast that will take you to. I did just that. I did a search and it did everything up until this date on, on the VCP process. So you'll see a lot there. The second thing that you need to do to get really great at networking is be interested. More than interesting, listening is the is a power move. Ask questions, really hear the answers and respond with relevance. People don't remember what you said, they remember how heard they felt and master. Networkers speak less and connect more. Good networker has two ears and one mouth and uses them both proportionately. Most people when they're networking tend to listen with the intent to reply. Not to understand, but to reply. If you can reverse that, you'll build deep rapport quickly. So use techniques like reflective learning. What I'm, what I'm hearing you say is this or thoughtful follow up questions that show you care about their goals. Listening makes people feel respected. And respect is the currency of trust. Listen to episode 556. It's called don't show off, show interest. Episode 556 is all about this. Three is give without keeping score. Givers gain isn't just a phrase, it's a philosophy. If you want to grow a thriving network, give referrals, share insights, make introductions. Without calculating return on investment, reciprocity comes, but but trust must lead the process. When you help someone without expecting a favor back, you surprise them in the best possible way. Over time, people remember who shut up, who helped them and who acted from a place of generosity. You become magnetic not because of what you take but because of what you contribute. Now in the book Infinite Giving you talk about the process of you know, you can be an infinite giver but don't be an infinite victim. So there is some point at which you need to say, hey, let's sit down and talk about how you might be able to reciprocate. I recommend several episodes on this topic. Episode 905 and by the way all these links are going to be right here in this in the transcript 905 which is applying givers gain to business 820 which is the principles of givers gain 605 which is givers gain is a standard not a sword. I've changed that in my in my presentations. Now little less violent Cur gain is a standard not a stick. It's something to apply to yourself, not hit other people with. That's number three. Number four articulate your why. Clearly you don't need to do a TEDx talk, but you do need a clear, concise way to communicate your mission, your value and why it matters. Your why is your lighthouse. When it shines bright, the right people find you. And that's that happens during weekly presentations. And so you want to make sure that in at least one of your weekly presentations you focus on your why and then come back to it and remind people of your why as you do future weekly presentations. A clear why aligns you with others who share your values, and that alignment is what builds strong partnerships. Whether it's in your weekly introduction or your social media profile. Your why should inspire curiosity, not confusion. And if you can connect your purpose to their priorities, you'll become unforgettable. Two episodes I'd recommend on this topic and that is episode 846 tracking the Y code. Tracking the Y code 846 and episode 451 why do you do what you do? And on that one, that's my why. So if you go all the way back to I think that was done in 2016. If you go all the way back to 2016 you'll see my why what I why I do what I do in business and you might find that of interest. Episode 451 the fifth and I'm happy to chat if you've got some suggestions here on these five afterwards. Priscilla okay, the fifth is Follow up or fall flat. Follow up or fall flat. The fortune isn't just in the follow up. The friendship is. The relationship is Learn to follow up thoughtfully, with value and in a timely manner. A simple great to meet you email isn't optional. It's oxygen for the relationship. It's the beginning of a relationship. Follow up is where most networking fails. Use a system, even a simple spreadsheet or reminder to track your touch points or an online software program or platform. Those are particularly good. Personalize your messages. Reference what they said. Keep notes about what they told you about their family, about their birth date, about their interests, whatever it is that they've talked to you about. Offer a resource. And when you follow up, you move from being a fleeting interaction to a trusted connection or contact. There's two episodes that I recommend on this one is episode 623, the follow up system. I. I believe the 24730 follow up system. This is the best follow up system that I have developed or heard of. I developed in conjunction with one of my co authors. You can find it in a couple of my books, particularly Networking like a pro second edition 24730 follow up. And I talk about it in episode 623 and episode 878 failing to follow through. I talk about how well that goes, which isn't well at all. So those are five really important things that I believe people need to learn to be great at networking. Any comments or anything you would add to that, Priscilla?
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Priscilla Rice
You know, I think the system that you're talking about will be so important because it's difficult to keep track of all the different people that you meet and what they said to you and you know, what you need to know in order to be able to seem as if you really, really hurt everything.
- [10:58]
Dr. Ivan Meisner
You know, I would suggest that it's. It's easy to keep track. It's. It's, it's just not done. I mean Harvey McKay certainly practiced this. I met Harvey a number of times and talked to him on the phone a lot. And he wrote the book dig your well before you're thirsty. And he was great at follow up and he would keep notes and that's the thing, just keep notes in whatever system you use. Even if it's just Outlook, keep notes. So when he, whenever he would call me, hey, how are your kids? Your, your eldest is Ashley, right? And how's Dorian? And how's Trey? And he would. I knew, I knew what he. I read his book. I knew what he was doing. Didn't make any more superficial. It made it to me, it made it outstanding because he practiced what he preached and I loved it. So it's not hard, but it's one of those things where it's simple but not easy. People forget to do it and you need to do it right.
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Priscilla Rice
You know, you meet so many people and you have so much responsibility, and do you ever feel like you're too busy?
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Dr. Ivan Meisner
Oh, you know, a lot of people say to me, yeah, you're very, very busy. You must, you must be busy. I'm not sure you can do this podcast with me. And I like to tell people, and I've been doing this for a few years. I've stopped saying I'm busy. At least I've really tried to stop saying I'm busy. Instead, I, I say I have a full life. Sometimes it's very full. And here's the reason why I say I have a full life. I, I, I barely know anyone that doesn't say they're busy. I know retired people who say, oh, I'm so busy. Like, what are you doing? You're, you're retired. You used to run a company and you're busy now. Oh, yeah, I'm busy. Like, okay, so I kind of stopped saying I'm busy. I try to say I have a full life. I know we've run over time. So next week, for those of you listening, next week, I'm going to give another five techniques for people to Learn how to Be Great at networking. Back to you, Priscilla.
- [12:58]
Priscilla Rice
Okay, no, that's great. Thank you so much. Well, that's it for this week. Thank you so much for that great information. This podcast is sponsored by MeisnerAudioPrograms.com these audio programs will provide you with the tools and the inspiration to powerfully enhance your B and I experience. So check out the great material that's available to you@meisneraudioprograms.com and then use the promo code IVAN5O for 50% off of everything. All of the proceeds go to the BNI Foundation. Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of the official BNI podcast.