Have you noticed that there’s a difference between the kinds of food you eat when you’re hungry, versus the kind you eat when you want to be nourished? When you’ve been working for hours at your desk, things like nutritional value and healthiness go out the window and you opt for meals that are quick and filling. But when you’re looking at your body and what it needs, you put a lot more time and care into selecting something that meets your nutritional needs.
The same principle applies to choosing who you want to network with. If you want to give your business what it needs to get ahead, you need to take your time to select networking contacts who can meet these needs on a deeper level, instead of picking the most convenient choice that will offer a short term solution to a long term problem.
The calibre of people you network with should be excellent. When you attend a networking event you need to know that the people who you’ll be rubbing shoulders with are good at what they do and match the calibre of person you want to be.
In our previous blog, we delved into how the people around you can actually strongly influence your behaviour and success – without you even realising it. This is why the quality of your connections will take you much further than the quantity.
Imagine attending a networking event and seeing a person handing out business cards indiscriminately to every person around them. This person eventually makes their way over to you, but during your conversation they’re constantly looking over your shoulder and scanning the room for someone more important, useful or interesting to talk to. They don’t ask you any questions about your business and fail to offer you any reason why knowing them could add value to your way of operating.
Would you want to spend any time at all at a networking event with even one person like this, never mind a whole room full of them?
Surrounding yourself with higher calibre people starts with becoming a high calibre person yourself. Concentrate on becoming this, and attracting like-minded individuals will become much easier.
The other month I was talking to a new member and I asked them ‘Why did you end up joining The Business League?’ There response was interesting. It was ‘I don’t want to network and be the smartest person in the room’. They fundamentally wanted to be around high calibre people. Which makes sense. You want to be around people who are going to challenge you, support you, help you grow. Not people who are going to suck knowledge out of you and use you for your connections, knowledge and business.
If you aren’t sure where to begin on improving your networking – how about finding somewhere to network, where you’re not the smartest person in the room. Somewhere with HIGH CALIBRE people. After that, the next step would be to attend a Business League Breakfast and surround yourself with HIGH CALIBRE people. CHECK OUT the next one HERE.