I have been networking for many years and have attended every type of networking event imaginable.  I am going to tell you a networking story that will confirm that networking does work if you embrace it in your everyday life.

Many years ago I was a member of a particular networking group and was impressed with one of  the  members who managed not only to provide quality leads and referrals but received a lot as well.  I wanted to find out why he was more successful at receiving referrals than the other members of the group.

I began watching him more closely and noticed a number of tactics and strategies that he used, such as listening intently when people were doing their 60 second elevator speech, writing down relevant facts, clarifying what was being offered and what was of value in the product or service and who specifically that person needed to be connected to.  He was also very good as a host during networking  meetings and had a skill of engaging new visitors and pointing them to people in the room who would be a good connection.

I was still curious about why he was good at networking, since at this time, I didn’t realize all those skills mentioned above are techniques for networking.  So,  I decided to ask him what his secret was.

His answer was:  it was his purpose in life  to help other people succeed  and he believed that everyone had something of value to offer in business – they just needed to articulate that  value.   He felt it was his job to help people to grow their business and in order to do so that he needed to be clear on their outcomes and passion in business.  In encouraging them to talk about this he helped them to become inspired and motivated about their business.

Because of his values and beliefs this person held, he was successful.   A natural networker, because he lived the art and techniques of networking.