The Power of Networking - Part 151

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 151

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. March 2010

Everybody is looking for the ‘good deal’, the great saving, the best discount! Not only in our personal lives, but also in our business lives, stretching the Rand as far as we can has become a way of life.

Yet somehow, there are so many of us who don’t understand the value and cost saving that we have when we Network. Let’s have a look at a ‘cost on cost’ type of situation.

Let’s suspend belief for a moment and say that I don’t Network at all, but rather do ‘cold calling’ – my looking for prospects would look something like this:

I would have to telephonically contact all my prospects either off a data base (ok let’s cut costs completely and say that I contact my prospects from the telephone directory). So each and every hour, I would need to contact say between 15 and 20 people. So in an 8 hour day that would mean between120 and 160 people. Of these, I would manage to get appointments with say 5% so that would be between 6 and 8 people. So now I have spent an entire day, which at my current hourly rate is R4 400 (never mind the cost of the telephone calls) and I have set up appointments with between 6 and 8 people who may or may not be interested in doing business with me. None of them have met me, there has not been any ‘engagement’ between us and I would usually have to meet them at their offices which would mean travelling time of say 30 minutes either way and then the hour for the meeting. So my 6 to 8 meetings then become 12 to 16 hours at a further cost of R6 600 and R8 800 (never mind the petrol). Add that onto the previous figure and the cost per meeting each person becomes R1 833.33 and R1650.00, never mind the cost of the phone call and the petrol and at this point you still don’t know if you are going to get any business out of it.

One of the Networking events that I have great success with is Women In Finance who have a monthly Hot Tables event (and believe me that this is not the only Networking that I do). In any event, the cost of the 3 course dinner is R250.00 and it takes from starter to end of pud in the region of say 4 hours (at my rate is another R2200.00 and remember I have had a 3 course meal as well which now totals R2450.00). At each course I meet and engage with 9 different people, who give me their business cards, who have an idea of what it is that I do and who are like minded and keen to do business, that’s in total 27 people (in the space of four hours) and let’s (to keep the figures rounded) say I meet an additional 3 people during the breaks between courses when everybody Networks with everybody else. So now I have met with 30 people over a period of 4 hours at a cost of R2 450.00. The following day I get out the cards that I got the night before and I contact all 30 people (another 2 hours at R1 100.00) and arrange to meet at a convenient coffee shop somewhere between the two of us. So far I have spent R3 550.00) and I have 30 appointments. My travelling time is now 15 minutes each way and because I have set it up at a coffee shop between us I can now schedule 8 meetings, back to back, at the same venue. So now my 8 meetings becomes R4 400.00 plus the R3 550.00 = R7 950.00 = R993.75 per person and this includes a 3 course meal or for the entire 30 people = R16 600.00 plus the R3 550.00 = R20 050.00 = RR668.33 per person, which is a whole lot better than R1 650.00 per person). The other difference of course is that it is no longer a ‘cold call’ but rather a ‘warm call’ and because the prospect has given me a card and because we have met at a Networking event, we both understand why it is that we are there and we get on with the business of business. Those 30 meetings usually are converted into 15 sales, if not with the person themselves, then certainly from referrals.

The most important thing though is that right from the very beginning I have started building a relationship with the individual who potentially has the ability to keep me in work for months (if not years) through their own data bases.

It makes you think . . . .

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za