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• Classic-Fiction

Overall, more people said they did not have systems versus those that did. Having systems to do all these activities are key for men and women. There is no way to create success if your success is out in “airy-fairy” land. Hard facts and data tell you what you are doing well and what you are not doing at all. Tracking is a key factor in success.

BNI is an excellent example of this point. A good BNI chapter tracks everything from attendance, referrals passed, referrals received, and dollars generated, and they track this for each and every member in the chapter. The most successful members and the most successful chapters are the ones who track consistently and review those results regularly.

My Referral Institute clients spend a lot of time reviewing in class their activities from the week prior. They keep networking score cards that let them know what activities they are doing and with whom and what results they are getting and from whom. If they do not track they have no way of knowing who is referring them, who they have given referrals to, and what activities and organizations are paying off for them.

There is a saying, “What gets tracked, gets done.” Nothing could be more true. Men and women alike take networking as a casual activity, they go to events, meet people, gather cards, and go back to the office. For most people it ends there. Organizations like BNI and some other groups have systems in place during the meeting, but if the members of those types of organizations do not have a system in place after they leave the meeting, they will have less success than those who do develop a system for their networks.

Track Everything

There are so many things that need to be tracked:

• What organizations you belong to and what results you are getting from them?

• How much time are you spending networking and working your network?

• How much money have you made as a result of your activities?

• Who is sending you referrals, and how much of your income are they responsible for?

You must have systems around all the tracking as well as systems for:

• Following up with those people you meet

• Staying in touch with your network members

• Rewarding your referral sources

• How you are going to help your referral sources

Ladies, here is the key for you to understand: If you learn to use good systems, it will allow you to get better results in much less time. This will free up more of your time for family and personal life. The work and time is upfront developing and implementing the system. On the backside you will spend much less time going out networking and more time working in your network. For most of us, we already know all the people we need to know to make a living. We don’t need to keep adding people to our network—we need to get into our network and start developing it.

CHAPTER 9

Your Best Networking Self

The Survey Says . . .

Our Findings Distilled

What have 12,000 surveys, almost 1,000 comments and stories, numerous interviews, months of research, and years of experience allowed us to conclude? Below is a recap of the facts we uncovered, and we think it will help to keep these in mind as you follow the advice of He and She, as logic behind your new habits.

Study Findings, Summarized

. Men and women were closer together than we expected in most areas.

. However, the perception of the difference is very dramatic. Remember: The exception becomes the perception.

. Women feel that networking has played a slightly larger role in their success than men.

. Women use a much wider variety of techniques to learn their networking skills than men do.

. Men are more likely to focus on business first than women are. Women are a little more likely to focus on building the relationship first—then the business.

. The time of day for networking was not a big issue for either gender. This was a surprise to us.

. Family obligations were more of a problem for women.