The Value of Becoming a Hub

The most valuable role in networking is that of the hub. You have probably met several hubs or maybe you are one yourself. Hubs are at the center of their community and as such seem to know everybody and how they relate. Hubs are very curious by nature and they invest time getting to know people. Hubs are trustworthy and never compromise relationships or confidential information. Hubs extend themselves time and time again to help people solve problems by connecting them with just in time knowledge and relationships.

In a similar way to how transportation, telecommunications and information technology are networked by a hub and spoke architecture, individuals as hubs connect their community.

When you have invested your time to become a hub you have mission critical knowledge and relationships when you need them. You are in the know and can make better decisions because of your access to information. You can get to where you intend quicker and easier because of the connections you have.

More important, you can become more valuable to your clients and colleagues by being their best source of knowledge and relationships. Utilizing your network to serve those who are important to you is truly what being a hub is all about. Think of your family doctor, your general practitioner. They listen, they test, they diagnose and when appropriate they get you to the right specialist.

You will be a recognized leader in your community when you become a hub. People will want your opinion. They will want your assistance. They will refer their colleagues to you. You will be able to help people in a way that you never have before...as a trusted advisor.

How is Networking Like a High School Dance?

Do you remember going to high school dances? At the beginning, the girls were on one side of the room and the boys were on the other. Each side observing the other and no one looking totally comfortable. Inevitably one courageous soul walks across the room and invites someone to dance and the dominoes begin to fall. The dance floor fills slowly, but not everyone participates. Some cling to their friends on the sidelines while attempting to look cool. The result is a scrum of activity in the middle of the floor and a variety of observers around the perimeter.

Effective networking is about getting in the scrum, meeting new people and making connections. If you need to warm up, stay in the perimeter for a few minutes and connect to some folks who aren’t yet ready to go to the center. As soon as you are ready though move to the center. Like in high school, the people in the center are the leaders. They interact more and as a consequence get to know each other more intimately. Like in high school, your connection to the community will be driven by the quality and quantity of intimate relationships that you maintain. Let's dance!

Expand Your Comfort Zone

As you enter the room of networkers, you make a choice. Do you opt to go straight to your co-workers, friends, and business associates where you spend the event talking to people that you know? Or do you go the opposite direction and engage people that you don’t know?

Since the primary networking purpose of attending events is to figure out who you should meet with one-on-one, then getting out of your comfort zone and connecting with people that you don’t know makes the most sense.

While this seems very logical, it is rarely the path of most would be networkers. At the next event you attend look around and you will observe big clumps of people who already know each other. You’ll most likely see herds of people from the same company. They cling to each other because they have determined no personal objective or direction and the herd represents safety.

Spending an event talking to people that you know wastes an enormous amount of potential energy. These are people that you have access to. They’ll take your call. You know what type of resource they are and how you would connect them given the opportunity. You have attended an event, invested significant time, and gained no leverage.

When you leave the herd you will make new connections that will surprise and delight you. As you do this more and more you will find yourself taking the middle seat on airplanes and sitting at tables of all new acquaintances at events. Each new person that you get to know expands your base of knowledge and relationships...your sphere of influence.

Where Do You Sit?

The floor layout at each event is somewhat different. Are you going to be sitting at tables or theater style? Where are my friends sitting? Is there an aisle seat so that my legs will be comfortable? Maybe I should take a seat in back, just in case I want to leave early. I should grab a seat quickly, so I can sit where there is a good view. My company has a table at the event, maybe I should sit there. NOT...

If your purpose is to network, the rule is simple...SIT NEXT TO PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW.

If you came to the event with people you know or you know some of the participants, separate from them...you can connect with them later. Networking is first about expanding your sphere of influence...the number of people you know. Company tables are great, but those seats should be occupied by your customers and the big wigs who are entertaining them.

One simple strategy is to not sit until the seating is somewhat full and then choose a seat in the middle of a densely populated area. Ideally you have someone you don’t know to your right, left, in front of you, and behind you.

Once you’re seated, introduce yourself around, find out who you’re sitting next to, and exchange cards. Learn as much as you can about the people that you are sitting with.

The purpose of attending events is to identify people who you should meet with one-on-one. The more people that you sit next to the greater the possibility.

What Should I Wear?

To some this will seem like a benign topic, but when you consider that according to most studies more than 60% of communication is non-verbal, personal appearance counts.

So we might ask, what will appeal most to the people that I am looking to attract? How will other people be dressed? What are my standards? Is there a dress code for the event?
Are we over thinking this? Yeah, probably. Here's the rule. Dress how you want to be perceived.

If you want an absolutely professional appearance then your best business suit and well polished shoes are appropriate. Some people want to be viewed more approachable. If this is the case, then a slightly more casual ensemble should be your plan. Logo wear might be a standard way to dress in your profession and certainly this can work very well.

The goal of your appearance should be to invite conversation from the people that you are looking to connect to. You might find additional success wearing distinctive or colorful clothes. Ultimately, your appearance when networking should be congruent with how you want to be perceived.

Connecting with Your Centers of Influence

Reminders:

• A center of influence is someone who can help you by virtue of who or what they know 
• Our best referrals come from current or former customers
• We cause the most customer referrals, passionate advocacy, when we have a deep bullpen of resources whose knowledge and relationships help us solve customer challenges

As we learned last week, the first place to focus, when you are trying to understand who your centers of influence are, is to learn who your best customer relies on. Who are your best customers most valued strategic relationships? They could be consultants, vendors, suppliers, advisors, etc... The supposition is that these individuals:

• Are qualified because our best customers has faith in them 
• Have relationships with other companies that look like our best customer

The goal then is to get to know these individuals well primarily because they are likely great service providers (resources) for our clients and future clients and secondarily because they likely have knowledge and relationships that are potentially valuable for us. When you call for the meeting, let them know that you have customers that may need their service and you would like to meet to learn more about what they do. Ideally, you’ll meet at their place of business…you’ll learn much more. The next meeting can be at your shop.

When you meet, learn about the individuals background, what they’re doing now, and who is a good connection for them. The more you learn the better. You want to know if this is someone who you would refer to your best customer. Would they make you look good?

Whether in this meeting or another, you want to agree how they will handle a referral from you. You might just ask, "If I were to call you with a referral, how would it be handled?" If they say anything other than "right away, with great care." you will want to have an open conversation about your expectation and if they can meet it. When and if you call them with a referral, it is ok and sometimes advisable to ask them to follow up with you after they have spoken with your client.

Your first priority with centers of influence is to solve customer problems. Having a deep bullpen of resources will allow you to do it best. You may, someday, get a referral from someone you've referred. Celebrate it. Don't expect it or this fragile eco-system dies. When we solve problems with our customers best interest in mind, we always win.

Determining Your Centers of Influence , part II

Reminder...a center of influence is someone who can help us by virtue of who or what they know.

When applying the center of influence concept to business building the first place to focus is to develop a base of centers of influence that will help you better serve your customers. Not only will this help you provide better service thereby creating more referrals from your customers, but it will also help you develop relationships with a cadre of non-competing industry professionals who will help you increase the depth and breadth of your connection to valuable knowledge and relationships.

Follow these steps to determine the shortest path to growing your greatest number of high value connections. Two steps to Identify your centers of influence for business building:

• Identify your best customer - You can define best customer however you want. Maybe it is the customer that does the most business with you. Maybe it is the customer who provides you with the highest margin business. Maybe it is the customer that refers you the most business. However you define best customer, it is critical that you realize that you have only one best and that you identify them by name. You should be able to complete this statement...my best customer is      XYZ Company     .
  
  Best customer test - Think for a moment about your average customer. Can you think of the value that your average customer brings to you as compared to your best customer? Imagine that you have a one time opportunity, in this moment, to receive either 100 more of your average customer or 5 more of you best customer. Which would you choose? Approximately 95% of the people who do this exercise find that they would take 5 best customers over 100 average customers. If your answer is different double check that you have truly identified your best customer.
  
  Paradigm shift - If you choose to receive 5 more of your best customers, then why are you networking to your average customer? By taking 5 more or your best customer you have just said that your best customers are at least 20 times more productive than your average customer...

• Identify the resources that serve your best customer - Do you know who your best customer relies on? Who are your best customers most important suppliers, vendors, or counselors? What professionals have helped your best customer get where they are?
  
  Having trouble with this? - If you don’t have this level of intimacy with your best customer are you vulnerable? You certainly are...a smart competitor will unseat you very quickly by learning this information. But this is not a customer retention exercise.
  
  So how do I find out who my best customer relies on? -  Er...Ask your customer. This is not a direct question. Learning who your best customer relies is a bi-product of being a student of your best customer and it is knowledge that is built over time. Some simple questions that will begin you on this journey include: Looking Forward - “Can you tell me about some your goals in the coming year?, Why are they important?, Are there specific internal or external resources that you will rely on to help you accomplish these goals?” Looking Backward - “Can you tell me about your company growth over the last 5-years?, What have you learned that you’ll apply to your objectives for the next 5-years?, Are there specific resources/vendors that you have found to be most valuable?”

Hopefully, you have been able to identify a path to discovering your centers of influence. Having gone through this exercise, you can see that this is a discovery process that never ends. Your understanding of who your centers of influence are is a journey. A continuous application of these two steps will allow you to focus and improve your networking to a level you never thought possible.
Next week we will discuss what to do once we begin learning who our best customer relies on.