Summary: This is a rebroadcast of Episode 158. Synopsis This week Dr. Misner provides three essential questions to ask yourself in order to develop a networking strategy and decide which networking events to attend. Who are my best prospects? Are they businesses or consumers? What industries are they in? Where can I meet my best prospects? Corporate representatives are more likely to be in service organizations or on non-profit boards than in chambers of commerce. Whom exactly do I want to meet? The more specific you can be, the better. Go to your BNI meetings and ask your fellow BNI members these questions. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 158 - Priscilla: Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Iâm Priscilla Rice, and Iâm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and Iâm joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla. This week I am in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the U.S. National Conference for BNI, and Pittsburgh is my home town. I was born in Pittsburgh. I only been back a couple of times. Itâs exciting to be here again. We have directors from all over the United States and a few directors from other countries that are here for our really big conference. Priscilla: That sounds great! So what are you going to share with us? Ivan: Today I want to talk about three essential questions, and it really relates to how people, time-strapped business people can figure out what kind of networking events that they should be attending and which ones that they donât need to focus on. Of course, we certainly love having you in BNI, but there are other networking groups that are active that you need to take a look at, like Chambers and service clubs and other business networking associations. So you want to ask yourself a little bit about the kinds of prospects, and you want to have a little bit of a networking strategy, so here are three easy but definitely essential questions you need to answer in order to create a plan for getting out there and connecting with people in the right venues. The first is: Who are my best prospects? Itâs important to know that each target market will have a strategy that requires you to network in different places. If youâre not sure who your target market is, look at your list of past clients. What industries were they in? How long have they been in business? Were your clients even businesses to begin with, or have your worked mostly with consumers? Once youâve put together a profile of your past clients, ask people close to you for patterns you may have overlooked, and get their input on who might be a good fit for your business. Thatâs a good question to ask your fellow BNI members. Who are my best prospects? This is the second question: Where can I meet my best prospects? As you begin targeting specific niche markets, there are other venues and opportunities that fall outside the typical networking event. Here are some examples of specific target markets where you should network to find people in these markets. Small business owners. Small business owners you can find at a Chamber of Commerce or a local business association, certainly a referral group like BNI. Representatives from big corporations in your area, well, there you can find them in service clubs, in non-profit organizations. They participate in those, as well as small businesses, but youâre going to see the bigger companies as well. Volunteer work, homeowners associations. These are places that youâll meet representatives from big companies. Consumers, your kidsâ events, Little League, Boy Scouts, so forth, church events.
