Guest Author: Nancy Palma, CPA, CFE, CIA, Palma Financial Consulting, LLC
You can’t change the results in business, but you can change the activities.
Wherever you are in your business, whatever results you have, that’s what you have Right Now. So the only thing that you can do is to change your activities. Dr. Ivan Misner always says “Successful people do six things 1000 times instead of 1000 things six times”. When he says six things, he is just generally speaking. I’ll make it even simpler for you. We’ll focus on only five things, but each of these five activities is truly a money-making activity!
1. Show up at networking meetings
And be present when you do. Show up early and pay attention. Everything you do in the meeting sends a message about how you do business. But it’s not just about showing up, it’s about really SHOWING up. It’s one thing to be in attendance, but are you really present? Because that’s the money-making activity. When you show up, are you early? Are you late? Are you engaged with writing notes, or are you distracted? Everything you do is a message to those around you of how you do your business. So if you’re sending positive messages, then that’ll strengthen your credibility with the group, and you are more likely to make real connections and get quality referrals. So that’s the first money-making activity.
2. Invest your time in continuing your education or improving your skillset.
The more you learn, the more you earn. You never know what you might hear in a podcast that will make you more successful in business. Spend at least 1 hour per week on professional development, choosing to educate yourself for the betterment of your business and your customers. Even though you may think you are going to hear the same thing you already know, you will likely hear it differently.
3. Schedule multiple face-to-face meetings every month
Even if face-to-face happens virtually, having 4-5 meetings each month with referral partners, people who can easily refer business your way, can double the number of referrals you get. Building relationships helps you build your outside sales and marketing team. Giving people an opportunity to get to know you and more about your business better positions them to refer you to their clients, friends, and family. Face-to-face meetings help to establish trust, and only then will you gain access to your referral partner’s contact sphere.
Invite others to network with you.
4. Invite (preferably a referral partner) to a networking event at least once a month.
Networking as a team takes away some of the pressure and some of the awkwardness of going to meetings by yourself. Especially if you’re an introvert! Invite a colleague, business partner, vendor, or other business associate along to introduce and be introduced to those gathered at the event.
5. Program your brain to see referrals everywhere.
If you’re doing all the other activities, you will have referrals on your mind, and it will be more natural to make referrals and more natural for your network to give you referrals.
There’s a part of our brain called the reticular activating system. Think about when you’re looking for something like a new car, for instance, your brain is programmed to find that car. So typically, if you’re in the market for a yellow Volkswagen, you start seeing yellow Volkswagens all over the place.
If you’re doing the other 4 activities – you’re showing up every week to networking meetings, being present, investing the time in learning and the education being offered; if you’re doing the face to face meetings with your referral partners and finding out who they want to meet, and then inviting those people to your networking meetings, giving referrals will become a lot more natural! The members of your network will become a lot more top of mind for you, and getting referrals will become a lot easier.
Those are the five simple things that anyone can easily do on a daily and weekly basis to be successful. There are also learning opportunities available on each of these topics. Let me know if you want to know more about them or be a guest at my next networking event!
