The Power of Networking (or networking works)

I recently went to a networking event. It was not one I was planning on attending.

I had a client call and ask me how to get there (he was not sure about the location). While talking to him he suggested I meet him there. Not having anything better to do (my wife was out of town), I decided to go.

When I got there I met the store manager for the local Sam’s Club. This was important to me because I had been trying to get a contact at Sam’s to see if I could get my books sold there. I have two books I am promoting: 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales and The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery. I thought Sam’s was a good place to sell the books since many members are business owners and both books address problems the business owners face daily. He took the books and said he would get back to me.

I also met some people there. As I usually do when I meet someone, I put their name and email address in an application called hand shake (www.handshakehq.com). The application is free and once you register you can set up email templates for different types of situations. Just enter the individual’s name and email address, select a template, and the recipient receives a nice email. It takes about 30 seconds to do this. I would suggest you check out this web site. It makes follow up easy and simple. It was created by Ron McDaniel, a buzz marketing expert.

About three days after I sent out the email, I received a call from one of the people I sent the email to. We made an appointment to meet. During the appointment, I was able to help her with a particularly thorny problem. As a result, she asked if how she could help me and I told her I was trying to get my books in Sam’s and ask if she could help. My thought was she attended the event, maybe she knew someone I didn’t.

She did (know someone). She told me it was a done deal. I was a bit surprised by her confidence. I gave her a copy of the book to give to her contact. We had breakfast a week later and she said she was meeting with the sales rep from Sam’s and she did not see a problem getting Sam’s to purchase the books.

I received a call about 4:00 PM that same day, and much to my surprise, she said Sam’s was going to carry the both books. Not only that, they were going in 312 stores in the eastern part of the US. WOW!

I told one of my coauthors about the success of getting the books into Sam’s and he introduced me to one of his contacts. This lead to three of my videos being used in a package that will be sold in both Sam’s and Costco’s, along with some of the biggest names in the industry.

The reason I went through this long story is to reinforce the fact that networking works. It works because I helped her without any thought of myself. In fact, I had every right to charge her for the consulting. To paraphrase Zig Ziglar: become a person of value by helping others get what they want. Net time you have an appointment ask how you can help them first.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein
info@yourbusinesscoach.net
330-990-0788