Boy did I look like an utter idiot when I took my cousin out for lunch the other day.
He texted throughout our outing – the restaurant was busy and there I was looking around – eavesdropping on other people’s conversations – then looking at my soda glass as though I could see my whole life mapped out on it – then when the food came examining each morsel before I ate it – all in the hope of looking “busy” because my lunch date was far too engrossed in his cell phone to talk to me.
I wasn’t going to go on my cell and do the same – so eventually I said: “You really are being rude you know!”
He peeked up at me from his little gadget – totally bewildered by my statement…
So when I was emailed the following pics just a few days later – I knew we were in real trouble.
So Saturday we hosted our Triple V Breakfast: RELOADED.
One of our guest speakers, Denis Fourie, Founder and CEO of the Trusted Advisor, spoke to us about the power and worth of networking (among the many things he shared with us).
And I realised that from the way I’ve seen a lot of us do it we may be going about it the wrong way.
Denis asked how many of us had physically met with the people on our networks: be it on Facebook Twitter, LinkedIn or other online networks.
You can imagine our responses…
He then told us that he currently had about 16 000 people on his network. Over the past thirteen years he had physically met 12 000 of those connections!
How many have you met?
I can honestly tell you I haven’t met, even, a fraction of the people on my social media networks.
And here’s the bottom line – your network can say you have a gazillion people – but how many of them are real, mutually beneficial, relationships?
Quality networking is about building real relationships.
Here’s a real example: The speakers I rope in at our business events are highly successful entrepreneurs – at this stage our business cannot afford to pay these speakers what our massive competitors can.
For instance in November Denis will be speaking at the Africa-Asia-Europe Trade and Investment Summit to be held in Cape Town.
I managed to secure a speaker like Denis simply because of my bid (and his) to build meaningful relationships.
So far this is what I’ve had to rely on as we build our incredible business events.
The speakers come because they know my heart and my desire to see fellow entrepreneurs grow – and I’m finding that for the most part successful people are so generous in sharing what they know – and because we can connect on that level they give me the time of day.
That’s just one example of the power of building real relationships.
So how are you building your network?
Are you accepting every “friend” or “follower” request to boost your ego or to enjoy swelling numbers that really mean nothing at the end of the day? Or are you doing what a successful entrepreneur like Denis does and value each potential “friend” or “follower” as a human being and not just a number?
Looking at how Denis has and continues to build his empire – methinks his strategy works better.
Hannah Viviers is founder of Hannah Viviers Business Training and the author of mommy24.com
You’re welcome to leave a comment or email her directly on hannahviviers@yahoo.com