Cultivating network success

By ANGELA McCARTHY

You're looking for a job or more business. You mention this to your friend Gloria, who hears friend Horace say his tennis partner Maisy had been talking about her workplace needing a worker/product/service in your area of interest.

Gloria relays the information back - and you've networked. She may then introduce you to the tennis partner, or you may approach with the information you have.

The IT section of your company is looking for a new website designer. A friend creates great sites - why wouldn't you suggest the two get together for a talk? That's networking.

However, the concept of networking is often considered distasteful - networkers are seen as pushy, hard-selling users. People feel foolish foisting business cards upon others in an attempt to get business.

Networking need not be like that, according to Darryl Buchanan, Auckland regional director of the formal group Business Network International (BNI). BNI has 45 groups, called chapters, across New Zealand, and allows just one person of each profession in a chapter.

Buchanan describes networking as a "give and gain" situation. If you take the approach of win-win - how can I help you and you help me? - you may stop feeling like a user as you proffer your business card.

Buchanan describes his approach as "farming rather than hunting". The hunter roves the room handing out business cards, pushing into conversations, using social events to grandstand.

The farmer ploughs the field (gets known), plants the seed (gains acceptance) and reaps the crop (gains from a relationship that involves giving and taking).

Every group you belong to is part of your network - family, friends, sport team, church community.

The important thing is to keep expanding it, and one effective way of doing this is through voluntary work or work experience.

You come into contact with people in the field who know others in it too. You may not necessarily be doing your dream job, but you are around people who could help you find it.

Auckland University of Technology careers centre manager Glenys Ker describes networking as building relationships with people. It is an important job-search strategy, she says.

"It is very effective because many jobs are not advertised. So the key is building relationships with people who can be of assistance to you and you to them."

Sound easy? Trouble is most Kiwis are not ardent self-promoters. In fact Kiwis are particularly reticent at putting their hand up and saying "Oi, look at me!"

Ker says approach is everything and the AUT career centre offers workshops where students practise networking and informational interviewing - asking people about their job, company and role, for example.

Whether looking for a job or looking for business, networking is cost-effective, says Buchanan. As businesses become more niche-focused, so meeting people and developing a range of relationships becomes more important.

Heard of six degrees of separation? Buchanan reckons people are usually only three steps away from the people they want to deal with. Your three-person gulf can be overcome by letting people know what you're after and offering help back - without ramming it down their throats or haranguing them.

One way of crossing the gulf is a formal networking group. At BNI's weekly 90-minute breakfast, all members have a one-minute opportunity to talk about their business, describing something they did, something that happened or a referral they're wanting.

You may be munching on toasted bagels with 40 others, but the focus is purely networking and getting referrals.

Buchanan says BNI tracks results and reckons 50 per cent to 80 per cent of members' new business comes from the chapters.

"Businesses say referrals are really important, yet how many businesses actively look for them? How many have a way to generate good-quality referrals in a regular way? Very few," says Buchanan.

Style doctor for nzoom.com, Jackie O'Fee, who owns personal image consultancy Signature Style, began attending a breakfast chapter after viewing its website two years ago.

"I was looking for something professional, business-oriented and structured. I like it because we're there to get business and support - there is no pretence."

O'Fee feels the financial members gain the most - the insurance broker, mortgage broker, valuer and lawyer. Her chapter also includes a commercial interior decorator, commercial cleaner, retail and commercial fitter, real estate agent, packaging specialist, events manager, specialty cake maker, panelbeater, and electrician.

"And yes, you do have to believe in the person's ability to do the job. I don't refer just for the sake of it. It has to be of value for all concerned. You also don't refer because they're part of your group or drop a business that has done well by you because there is someone offering that service within the group. It isn't like that."

O'Fee says they're advised to "dance" with group members, which involves visiting their workplaces, seeing them in action and learning about their business to build the trust needed for referrals.

The Pacific Business Trust (PBT) organises monthly business club meetings to help Pacific people extend their business networks in the city.

It is a popular service, with the March meeting attracting 85 people. Angelina Weir, a PBT business adviser and organiser of the club, says the emphasis is on increasing networks to increase business and profit.

"At the February meeting, one Pacific business person engaged a lawyer and an accountant. A builder and accountant met and took on each other's services.

"At another meeting a sideboard furniture maker with no marketing skills met a lounge and bedroom furniture maker with those skills. They agreed to have the tables and sideboards displayed alongside the lounge suites, which increased business for both parties."

Another popular networking group is Schmooze, set up seven months ago by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) events team, and considered the most "in" of Auckland networking groups with 2300 members on an email database. While set up to target the 20s to 30s market, Schmooze now attracts older people.

Schmoozer Jonathan Dodd, a research and marketing manager with Auckland company Research Solutions, likes it "because it is clearly networking. It is a relaxed environment where people are openly keen to learn what you can offer them and they can offer you. I like the honesty of that - it's a freeing feeling."

Thirty-something Dodd says that it is also nice to have a beer and relax while doing the job, and he enjoys meeting a diverse range of people: "At professional associations and things, you are meeting with just your competitors."

Schmooze organiser John McRae says the event provides younger people with an upfront networking opportunity while being entertained - by hip-hop DJ Manuel Bundy at the last do on April 17.

Participants include doctors, designers, engineers, marketers and film industry people. But there has been little pick-up by the trades, says McRae, possibly because they're not connected to email to the extent of other professions.

Formal networking options are on offer through many professional organisations and are worth participating in.

But don't forget your own informal networks and remember Buchanan's advice - you gain when you give.

BNI

Schmooze

Pacific Business Trust