Networking Is Not Selling

A wonderful woman I met at a meeting I spoke at (Sellwood B2B) on Effective Internet Marketing You Can Do Yourself for Free mentioned when we spoke again that she hadn’t been able to attend recently because she felt she had to choose between clients and a networking group, and what follows is what I wrote back to her hours later when the comment resurfaced in my mind – that she said she greatly appreciated.  Becky asked me to post it because it has some very good points about networking – and the one at the end has been one of my secrets to success for my business!

“You commented earlier about weighing priorities as in clients vs the network groups, and it just popped in my head again, but I think the two can and should be complimentary.  But I’m not selling you on networking groups – this is my intuition telling me to email you back and let you know: in networking we work together to bring each other more clients (we are each other’s part time sales force), to foster a better reputation, and to grow personally by surrounding ourselves with like-minded professionals.

I actually have a great group of professionals, a majority of them are quality women, that meet on Tuesdays at noon at Kennedy School McMenamin’s. I have no idea how far that is from you or what your Tuesdays look like, but I think you would be a stand out contributor and find great value in it.  I happened to invite another woman today that may also be a good fit, she’s in payroll which we need – but actually I see you as an ideal fit.

I gave a networking tip today to the group that was EXTREMELY well received and it has worked wonders for me – invite your prospects and clients to the meetings.  How does that serve them and you?  They are able to do business with people at the group, able to receive referrals from the group and they get to hear about you from some of your closest (networking) partners who may also be client’s themselves (as I would).  I personally make it a point to do business with people in my groups so I can give a testimonial as a client.

Just a few cents I hope make sense.”

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Charles Montgomery

Northwest eSource

(503) 922 – 1446

charles@nwesource.com

http://www.NWeSource.com

I’m quoting myself, how egotistical is that?

A business luncheon should be a retreat from the grind, an escapade of ideas, and an accolade of success stories!”

Becky Loves My Hat

I really enjoyed speaking to the Tigard B2B group yesterday, and what a turnout!  Half of the people there were from other ITTL groups and came out to hear my topic “Effective Internet Marketing You Can Do Yourself for Free!” and the other half came from the post on Meetup.com (if you were there feel free to leave a comment here and on Meetup)… I think we hopefully gained one or two new members to I Take The Lead, specifically one in the Lake Oswego B2B I attend on Mondays, Mr. Church that does OSHA Compliance Programs.  Additionally, Honeymoon and Jerry joined us all the way from Denver’s I Take The Lead franchise and contributed greatly to the conversation.

I Take The Lead Members that were there included: Me, Tom Cochrane, Peter Grote, Jodi Colbert, Norm Baker, Stephanie (Owner of Sezchuan Kitchen), Lisa Lynne, Michael Neuman, Neil Robbins, and our superstar Becky Tengwall herself!  Thanks to everybody for coming out and showing support! 

As promised I did post a lengthy article with the details of the conversation, again on Free Effective Internet Marketing that you can do yourself over on my blog dedicated to supporting I Take The Lead members, Locally-Social.com.  I took some time to add email and RSS subscription buttons as well as links to my Linked In, Twitter and Facebook Profiles.  Please take a few minutes, visit, comment, and add me to your social networks!

One thing I have to mention is that the ClubSport Conference Room is a perfect place for a large meeting… Read more…

It’s not surprising that Sean is also one of the best networkers I know.