The 7 Levels of Networking

The other day, I was speaking to someone who had joined the Business League to attend our Networking Breakfasts. They told me that although their first year with us had been amazing – with a great financial knowledge and community return – that their progress had plateaued, stagnating their results.

I could tell that they were frustrated after investing time and money, and that they were thinking of throwing in the towel. Thankfully they didn’t! All they needed to hear was that they were stuck on one of the seven levels of networking, and that the next level was just around the corner.

The first level of networking is where you are a NEWBIE. We’ve all been there, and you might even be there right now. After this, you become the GROUPIE, and start group networking, testing, and building relationships. If you’re a Business League member, it’s when we introduce you to our 90-day impact plan to make the most out of these first 3 months.

The third stage, the BUILDER, is when you start building relationships and begin gaining traction and benefits from them. It’s where most people start to plateau, as they learn that building relationships and rallying people doesn’t create new business. This is the stage where the member mentioned above had started struggling.

So how can you move past this stage?

To ascend to level four as the PARTNER, you need to form strong partnerships and relationships that move beyond being social, to providing a ROI.

In the fifth stage you become the BRANDER, forming a brand that can be used to repeatedly expose your business to a larger networking and partnership community, and remain front of mind to those who are exposed to it.

The sixth, penultimate stage is where you your results become ORGANIC. You start achieving organic networking results.  You don’t know where all the connections come from. This should happen by itself, thanks in large part to your earlier efforts.

The final stage is where you become the INFLUENCER – the go-to person in your area of expertise who gets invited to speak or present your insights to other businesses.

Want to get to the next level? First identify where you are. Once you’re ready to take a step to get to your next networking level, visit our Facebook Connection Hub and get the conversation started so we can keep you moving onwards and upwards.