How to Work a Room with Susan RoAnne | CONVERSATIONS THAT COUNT

Conversations That Count with Rob Brown

My name is Rob Brown. I'm based in the UK and am the founder of the Global Networking Council. This is a high-level, invitation-only ‘mastermind’ group for thought leaders, authors, experts, facilitators and gurus on the topics of business networking, relationship building, trust, connecting and referrals. Part of my role is to interview these top relationship thought leaders and share with you their insights and tips for building social, financial and relationship capital.

In this fourth interview for our 'Conversations That Count' series, check out this entertaining 20 minute interview with Susan RoAne, The Mingling Maven®, who is credited with launching the networking industry! Because of her groundbreaking best-seller, How to Work a Room®, Susan is considered one of the most influential networking and business communication experts. She has sold over a million books worldwide, and helped launch an industry that she continues to recreate and shape today.

Susan is a true pioneer when it comes to networking. Much of the training that networking gurus deliver around the world on getting more out of business related events has come from her work. In this outstanding interview on How to Work a Room, you'll discover:

• That if you don't like people, all the tips, strategies and tactics of networking will mean nothing.
• The common networking mistakes people make.
• What the top savvy networkers do when they don't actually need anything.
• Why knowing how to work a room is NOT networking.
• The wonders of The Networking Trilogy.
• The Networking Law of One Step Removed.
• The importance of reclaiming the personal touch in a digital world.
• How technology has affected the world of business networking.
• Susan's top 'schmoozing' tips.
• The secret of always having something to talk about.
• A clever tip to take the focus off you and make people feel great.
• How to have a good time everytime you go networking.
• Insight into international networking in different cultures.
• The magic of finding that bond that changes a networking conversation.
• What NOT to do in a networking conversation.
• The danger of asking people too many networking questions.
• The 'Networking OAR' for magical networking conversations.
• Why you should have your 7-9 second networking introduction ready and waiting.
• What to do if you forget somebody's name.

There's so much good stuff in here, both for the experienced networkers and the beginners. What makes Susan so engaging is her sheer enthusiasm for people and their many quirks! She tells great stories and gives great examples that will help you be more comfortable in working a room. If you find yourself struggling in social situations, listen and learn from this interview with one of the true networking greats!

Listen to the interview here

For more information, please visit Rob's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to the Advisors and Experts at TNNWC Group, LLC. We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally. We don’t just “coach” you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your scale of operations and your budget to: (1) create your optimal tool kit , and (2) work as your partner (with our sleeves rolled up) to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool. Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com To receive your Free Subscription to our critically- acclaimed business newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Two of our most widely-read publications include The National Networker (TNNWC) Weekly Newsletter, and The BLUE TUESDAY Report. Every Subscriber automatically receives Free Membership. Membership will grant you access to our unique suite of business planning, business-building, business promotion, business cost-reduction, business capitalization and strategic planning services, as well as entry to our expert management consulting services. These benefits are unequalled anywhere. Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button. Find out about what WE can do for YOUR growing enterprise -- we are recognized advocates, champions, thought-leaders, writers and keynote speakers on such timely subjects as social networking and relationship-building, traffic -building, social media buzz, branding, developing international trading and joint venture relationships -- and structuring and obtaining alternative forms of capitalization. We are on top of every significant business, regulatory, technological, social and consumer trend worldwide. At TNNWC, we have a specific orientation: We Solve Problems. We Help Our Clients To Achieve Their Goals And Objectives. Prosperity. Peace. Collaboration. Sustainable Solutions For Continuous Growth™. Subscribe. Join Us. Visit Us. http://www.tnnwc.com/. You can access our free supplemental RSS FEED by clicking *HERE*
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

How to Work a Room with Susan RoAnne | CONVERSATIONS THAT COUNT

Recommended, The Book | DAVE CLARKE

by Dave Clarke

This month sees the launch of the third book from my fellow National Networker Columnist, Andy Lopata. The book 'Recommended: How to Sell Through Networking and Referrals' is both a good read and a useful manual that you can dip in and out of to help build an effective referral strategy for yourself. It is published by the Pearson Group with the imprint of Prentice Hall Financial Times. It follows hot on the heels of the updated version of '...and Death Came Third!', the definitive guide to networking and speaking in public.

I chatted with Andy this week at our NRG Metropolitan Networking Group in London.

1. Why write this third book, Andy?

"Far too many organisations, of all sizes, either fail to consider referrals in a strategic way for their business, or have a half-hearted and ineffective approach to generating word of mouth. Businesses need to have access to a simple, yet much more focused, process of referral-based lead generation and treat it in the same way they do other routes to market.

From a personal point of view, much of my work over the last three years has been focused on networking and referrals strategies, rather than the skills covered in '...and Death Came Third!' In addition, my approach and content have evolved, so there was a need to write something more representative of what I do now and who I work with.

I have also worked increasingly with larger organisations and wanted to be able to make my approach easily accessible to smaller business who weren't necessarily in the position to bring me in to work with them direct."

2. What’s the reason for the title, Recommended?

"I had been struggling to find a strong title throughout the writing process. I then heard a good friend of mine, Grant Leboff, speaking to promote his new book Sticky Marketing. In his talk, Grant discussed changes in buyer behaviour and how we have moved from people being open to others selling to them, to finding out for themselves what they want to buy. And they find out using two methods; they search the internet or they ask friends, family and colleagues to recommend a supplier.

If we accept that our prospects are more likely to buy from us if a third party recommends us, surely we should have a strategy to encourage those recommendations and, even better, referrals. Hence the title."

3. What's the most important thing you want people to take from reading the book?

"That a strategic approach to generating new business through referral is both essential and also can pay huge dividends. Knowing that people are successful applying my Referral Book process would be fantastic. But if each reader takes away one or two key tips and implements them, they will win more business more easily.

I hope it's an entertaining and engaging read, but that is far more important."

4. So what’s next for Andy Lopata?

"I have a couple of exciting speaking engagements coming up, starting with my first trip to Vietnam this month. I've already spoken with my publisher about future projects and we have settled on a couple of ideas for new books which I'll come back to look at early next year.

We are also looking to develop a wider range of resources to help companies and individuals implement their own networking and referrals strategies."

As it says on the cover, if you want to grow your business, get Recommended!

Until next time...
Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get this free download to building business through networking



For more information, please visit Dave's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to the Advisors and Experts at TNNWC Group, LLC. We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally. We don’t just “coach” you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your scale of operations and your budget to: (1) create your optimal tool kit , and (2) work as your partner (with our sleeves rolled up) to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool. Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com To receive your Free Subscription to our critically- acclaimed business newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Two of our most widely-read publications include The National Networker (TNNWC) Weekly Newsletter, and The BLUE TUESDAY Report. Every Subscriber automatically receives Free Membership. Membership will grant you access to our unique suite of business planning, business-building, business promotion, business cost-reduction, business capitalization and strategic planning services, as well as entry to our expert management consulting services. These benefits are unequalled anywhere. Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button. Find out about what WE can do for YOUR growing enterprise -- we are recognized advocates, champions, thought-leaders, writers and keynote speakers on such timely subjects as social networking and relationship-building, traffic -building, social media buzz, branding, developing international trading and joint venture relationships -- and structuring and obtaining alternative forms of capitalization. We are on top of every significant business, regulatory, technological, social and consumer trend worldwide. At TNNWC, we have a specific orientation: We Solve Problems. We Help Our Clients To Achieve Their Goals And Objectives. Prosperity. Peace. Collaboration. Sustainable Solutions For Continuous Growth™. Subscribe. Join Us. Visit Us. http://www.tnnwc.com/. You can access our free supplemental RSS FEED by clicking *HERE*

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

Recommended, The Book | DAVE CLARKE

The Value of Advocacy in Business Networking | DAVE CLARKE

by Dave Clarke

People who win regular business through networking have reached the stage where they have built strong relationships with others who will go out of their way to recommend them to their contacts on a regular basis. At NRG we call these people their advocates. The people with the most advocates tend to be those who advocate other the most too!

Recently we have been conducting some research into the value of such an Advocate. In this research we first asked do you have any advocates today?

For those that answered yes we asked these supplementary questions
1. What is a new client worth to you in the first year?
2. What is your conversion rate following an introduction from an advocate?
3. What is your client retention rate?
4. How many times does an advocate introduce you directly to a potential opportunity?

The average from the answers so far is
1. £16000 in the first year
2. 40% - win business from 4 out of 10
3. 70% - keep 7 out of 10 clients annually
4. 5 solid recommendations to actual selling opportunities

This gives an average that one advocate (value for typical NRG member) enables you to win £32000 of new business in the first year. If you then calculate what one such advocate is worth over 5 years it becomes more than quarter of a million pounds sterling!

This may be a valuable exercise to conduct for yourself. Especially for when someone questions whether business networking is a valuable investment of your time. It can be very tempting for others to suggest you focus all of your time on direct sources of business. Compare that, however, with the returns you can generate with focusing some of your time on building a few more advocates.

Until next time...
Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get this free download to building business through networking



For more information, please visit Dave's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

---

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

The Value of Advocacy in Business Networking | DAVE CLARKE

DAVE CLARKE: Get More Referrals by Using a System

by Dave Clarke

Last month I was with a group of Professionals and Small Business Owners in Birmingham learning more about Referral Marketing at the Referral Institute's UK & Ireland Conference. The theme of the day was about how you can dramatically increase your referred revenue. First by understanding the different sources of referral and then by adopting a system for your referral marketing.

The conference was hosted by Peter Sylvester and speakers included UK based Referral Institute experts Sarah Owen, Jill Green, Carmen Parkinson and Allison Timmins. They were joined by Brian Moore from Referral Institute Ireland.

The final topic of the day was from US based Trey McAlister. His talk was all about understanding 'Contact Sphere Professionals'. These people are in a position to regularly refer each other.

It is worth spending some time identifying this group for your business. Who else is often needed when you do business? What opportunities do you uncover as you go about your work? What other opportunities could you uncover as you go about your work?

This process of identifying them also gives you an idea of the opportunities you have for referring and building your inner network. As you do this for them you are demonstrating how they can do the same for you and others. You are advocating them and providing the motivation for them to do it for you.

You really can get all the business you need through a close knit group of like minded business owners like this. That is, provided you are all committed to the success of each other and are all in a position to regularly provide opportunities to each other. You need to meet regularly to strengthen your relationships and exchange opportunities. Why not find a convenient networking group inwhich you can do this?

You are also adding value to your client relationships by showing them you have their success at heart and not just your own.

Until next time...

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get this free download to building business through networking

For more information, please visit Dave's TNNWC Bio.

---

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

DAVE CLARKE: Get More Referrals by Using a System