Networking ok, but on my terms. (Whats in it for me?)

The selfish personality becomes very evident in a social environment, even if you know little or nothing about a person.  Those who wish to participate in a social network and still wish to act selfish will find their experience a very lonely or ridiculed one.

I received a message from one of the Facebook groups I belong to this morning.  A couple of new members were bashing the group and the admins.  It is clear that they read nothing about the group and attacked the admin for issues which were outlined in the definition of the group.  So you have to question why did they join the group in the first place?

One person was complaining that people from the group were contacting them, even though they joined a networking group.  One of the complainers had an issue with the fact that they did not get the personal results they expected; results that no one offered or promised.  The response to these posts were basically ridiculed from the other members.  

The ability to freely express you opinion on the internet is a great thing.  It allows us to view ideas from many angles.  At the same time it also makes us accountable for our own actions. 

Accountable for our own actions, what a novel concept…

Five ways to improve your profile to promote yourself online (The Power of Five System)

Five ways to improve your profile to promote yourself online (The Power of Five System):

• Place a picture of yourself on your profile. Add pictures of trips, events, activities, family. People connect better with people than products. The most successful sales and business people got there by connecting and networking with people.
• Your About should be about you not about what you want people to do. Add your background, history, experience, resume.
• Include your interests, books, movies, TV, etc. These are generally links and are used as part of the search function. Keep this up to date. It will help people connect with you.
• Set up your top friends with top friends. It is great if authors and famous people accepted your friend invitation but they accept everyone's friend invitation. They should not be in your top friends list since you probably do not know them personally.
• Create a BLOG which is real. The word blog stands for online log (personal journal). You can write about anything, but this is not a place to further define your business or products.

In conclusion, setting up your profile as a billboard for your business and then expecting real people, who do not know you, to connect with who you are and what you do will rarely happen. If you want to sell this way then you need to create a big budget and purchase advertising, not invite people to meet you and then switch up and try to hook them into a sales advertisement.

Five Steps to connect with people online (The Power of Five System)

The biggest mistake networkers make is trying to make one contact and close a sale online. It is one thing if someone finds your site, gets excited, and orders, it is a completely different dynamic when you contact a prospect and try to hard sell them on you and your product before they get to know who you are.

We have found the following to be effective ways to find and qualify new prospects online:

1. Search - Use the power of the internet to search for people with like interests. Those interests do not have to relate to your business in any way. The search should be based on a conversation starter and not a sales pitch.
2. Invite - Invite that person to be a friend, contact, etc. Many sites allow you to invite with a message, which can help you get a better result on your invites. Let them know why or how you found them.
3. Connect - Once your prospect accepts your friend request start a conversation
4. Qualify - Remain in control of the conversation by asking questions which will result in specific answers. Is this person right for your business and someone you want to work with?
5. Follow-up - Keep your contacts close. When you make a contact use the philosophy that: Some will, some won't, but today is just one day. Today may not be the best day for someone to decide to join your company or purchase your product. You never know when the right time will be for this person to take a second look at your business. The biggest mistake in marketing is not following up on past contacts. Each new qualified contact should be treated like an uncut diamond.

Michael Zimmer is the author of the Power of Five System, 5 lessons every Entrepreneur should know about building a Multi-Million Dollar Network.