Business Networking and Sex - Ivan Misner [88]
I once gave a man a $30,000 project referral that he never followed up on. I even called him a second time to give him a second chance. I gave the same referral to a woman and she followed up within 24 hours. Maybe this is the reason women feel they’re getting more business from their networking activities than men. They are more consistent with follow-up.
The Survey Says . . .
Measuring Is Mandatory
If you track your networking efforts, you can study them and make sure they’re giving you the return on your time investment. How much time do you spend per week on network activities? How much are you gaining for your business from this time investment? Measure average time and gains over a two-year period, then step back and assess your methods and production. Could you be doing things differently? If we are going to spend time doing anything in business, we must make sure it is giving us the return on our investment that we desire. What is the old saying? You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it. Ultimately, if you can measure it, you can see what’s happening and change it.
He Says . . .
It is all about ROI (return on investment) ... right, guys? Time is money. Relationships are money. Time and relationships are money. If the time I am spending is not yielding me the correct amount of results, then that relationship HAS TO GO! How we men think: “The last thing I need is another ‘relationship’ with a man or a woman that goes nowhere ... in terms of business. I need to know that my time is profitable. It is all about the bottom line, the ROI, the transaction ... ‘THE SALE!’”
Women, I am now going to show to you a formula that was given to us (men) before we went into the business world. Passed down from father to son, father to son ... for generations. This is the first time it has ever been revealed to members of the opposite sex. This is our key to success over the last 500 billion years.
ROI Formula for Men
Sex of person x Age of person x Education x Years of experience ÷ Number of people in their network x The median of years of relationship with each person people under 32.5 years of age and people over 52.25 years of age.
When you have that number, then multiply it by 3.14666 and then convert to a fraction.
Once you have the fraction ...
Please tell me you weren’t actually doing this! You don’t really think I am serious, do you?
The reality is, there is no mathematical formula for success when it comes to networking. As men, we like to think there is, but we have already pointed out in this book, sometimes we men (as a gender) are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
So here is reality. Forget everything I said above the “Please tell me you weren’t actually doing this!” Measuring our time, money, and energy investment is important. Measuring the actual results we are getting from our networking and referrals is important. I believe in it, I do. But, what is it that I am really measuring? Relationships are not possible to measure on paper. Networking results come from investing time and energy to a relationship. They develop through giving, caring, and wanting to help others. Let me ask you a couple of questions: Who is going to give you your next big referral? How much will it cost you and when will you receive it? I am pretty sure you cannot answer these questions. Why? Because YOU NEVER KNOW. You never know who is going to give you the next big referral.
The key to getting results from your networking associates, male and female, is the level of their sincerity in wanting to help you. What is the way to measure another’s sincerity in helping you? Not sure, but that would be a cool formula.
We as men don’t want to waste our time at events or with people who “don’t get it.” How do you know those people? You know. It is instinctive. (Unless of course you are one of those people who really don’t get it or even get what I am saying here.) We have