Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence,then, is not an act, but a habit.

So, let me ask, what habits have you created around your referrals business?

The first habit that every business person should have is the habit of tracking your activities.  Creating a referral system requires that you track several things.

Track your networking activities.

• Who are you networking with?
• What activities are you participating in?

Track your giving.

• Who have you given business to?
• What connections have you been able to make?
• What was the value of the business you have given?

Track your receiving.

• Who has referred business to you?
• Who has connected you?
• What was the value of the business you received?

Track your thanking activities.

• Who have you thanked
• How have you thanked them?

When you have a system for tracking your activities and you use it consistently you begin to develop a habit.  It is these habits that creates excellence!

Hazel M Walker, owns three award winning franchise’s. She is a 10 year owner of two BNI Franchises where she teaches members how to leverage their time and network to build each others businesses. She is also a Referral Institute franchise owner and teaches Business Owners how to harness the Science of Referrals to develop Referrals for Life. Hazel is a published author in New York Times best sellers Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. As a member of the National Speakers Association she travels the world speaking to businesses and women’s organizations on the topics of networking to create a life you love.

Networking is a person to person activity, we meet, we talk and we share pleasantries with one another. When we meet and start the process of building a business relationship we are looking for people who energize us, people we want to be around. Now and then we meet people we wish we did not have to spend time with. They have a negative attitude and readily spread it around.

Wally Amos, founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company, wrote a book in 1996 called Watermelon Magic: Seeds of Wisdom, Slices of Life. He wrote the Watermelon Credo as I was reading it I realized more than ever how it applied to our lives and our networking activities.

W-Whatever you believe creates your reality. Believe that life is a positive experience and it will be.
As a business networker, you have to believe that others are willing to help you succeed.

A-Attitude is the magic word. Your greatest asset is your attitude. When you are networking, you will attract more people who want to be around your when you are positive and supportive.

T-Together everyone achieves more. There are no limits to what we can accomplish together. Networking only happens with more than one person. Each helping the other by building trust and making connections with one another.

E-Enthusiasm is the wellspring of life. Enthusiasm makes you fun to refer to, people want to be with you, to help you.

R-Respect yourself, as well as others. When you begin to respect yourself, your whole world changes. If you want others to make connections for you they must have respect for you. That will not happen if you do not respect yourself.

M-Make commitment, not excuses. You have to build credibility with people if you are going to build a strong network, unfortunately credibility is often destroyed because people make excuses for what they have not done or did not due. Live up to your commitments and build credibility.

E-Everyday can be a fun day. Make your networking activities fun, something you enjoy doing, not something you dread, make a game of it, smile and enjoy yourself.

L-Love is the answer. Whatever the question, love is the answer. When you love what you do, it comes through as passion. People will be drawn to you, they will want to know your secret, they will want to be part of your network.

O-One day at a time. All of life happens in increments of one. Building a strong network means adding one person at a time and building a relationship with them. Creating a win-win relationship for each of you.

N-Never give up or become a victim. Regardless of the economy you can create success as long as you understand that you are the victor and not the victim. No one cares to hang out with the victim.

We have the power to create great success when we help others do the same thing, when you remember the principals of watermelon you will attract people who want to be part of your network, who want to help you create the success you are looking for.

Hazel M Walker, owns three award winning franchise’s. She is a 10 year owner of two BNI Franchises where she teaches members how to leverage their time and network to build each others businesses. She is also a Referral Institute franchise owner and teaches Business Owners how to harness the Science of Referrals to develop Referrals for Life. Hazel is a published author in New York Times best sellers Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. As a member of the National Speakers Association she travels the world speaking to businesses and women’s organizations on the topics of networking to create a life you love.

Do you have an Advisory Board for your business?  Have you considered it but you don’t know where to start?  An Advisory Board can be one of the best things that you can do for your business if you use it correctly.  It take work and it take commitment from everyone, done right everyone benefits.  Here are some steps to creating your Advisory Board.

1.  Select 3-10 people you believe can bring valuable assistance to your business.  I asked people who are in my network and  who new my products and services, they were raving fans. I had a high level of respect for each of them and their business success and I knew that they would hold me accountable.

2.  Ask each person if they would be willing to serve on your advisory board. You cannot get to yes if you do not open yourself to the possible no.  Let them know you value their opinion and would like to have them on your board.

3.  Let your board know how often you would meet, when you would meet, what you would like to achieve, and why you chose them to help you.

4. Set your first meeting and be prepared.  Start your meeting on time and have an agenda.  Let your board know what your goals are, what you are currently doing and what kind of things you want to do.  Let them ask you questions and get to know your board.  Above all, be completely prepared to work each time you meet.

5.  Thank your board, ask how you can help them.  I ask my board the last time we met, what it was that I could do for them.  Their response, “Keep doing what you are doing, be prepared and do what you say you will.”  I was very surprised, I am always prepared and always do what I say.  I also take great pains to find referrals for my board members.

A Board of Advisors is a great way to help you focus on your business and build strong relationships, it is a great way to strengthen your network.

are you working your Network.  I asked this question of several of the students in our Referral Dynamics Class last week and I later asked the same question of several BNI members.  In every case they said that they spent a great deal of time working their networks.  They attended the regular meeting, connecting with their fellow members, and they indeed did work their network.

Unfortunately that is not the network I was speaking of.  That is one of the places that you go to network, I was speaking to “Your” Network.  Those people whom you have in your database, those people who have met when you have been out networking.  How much time do you put into working your network, calling them up to reconnect, sending articles to them, meeting them for coffee, inviting them to events, or publishing them in your newsletter.  Do you track your activities and whom you are spending your time on?

The Referral Institute has a very handy tool called the “Networking Scorecard”.  This tool allows you to track the activities that you are spending on your network.  Creating a proactive process for nurturing your network, so when you have a need there is no problem picking up the phone and calling someone in your network and asking for help.  After all, you have spent quality time working your network.  Sometimes it is more important that you spend time developing what you have then adding more to the mix.  Once you have developed your network, then you can spend time adding more to the mix.

There is a great deal of pride in the size of a man’s, er, uhm well, you know, their network or at least the number of people in their database.  But, isn’t there an old saying about it’s not about how big it is but more about how…….um, well how well you know the people in your network?

Quality of quantity, visibility networking over credibility networking.  When you work in your network, building relationships, following up with people finding ways that you can help them and connect them you are building a stronger, more credible network. 

Recently, I wanted to meet a certain person who’s name will not be mentioned.  I began to ask my network, who had this person in their network and could they connect me.  Keep in mind, for me a connection is either a face to face introduction or a conference phone call where all three parties are on the call.  More than half my network had his name and number in their network, but only 2 people were able to pick up the phone and arrange a meeting and introduction and both of those people were willing to make that happen for me.    Only 2 people really knew the person I was looking for………so what good were the others?  What value is there in having a name and phone number in your network if you have not done anything to turn it into a relationship. 

Take time to develop your network, not just grow your network.  Take the time to build Credibility, in so doing, it will lead to Profitability! 

I had taken the time to build strong relationships with the 2 people who were willing to connect me, they were in my highly credible network and I was in theirs, so they did not hesitate to make the connection for me.   By the way, the 2 people who were able to connect me, theirs were not the biggest.

Ok, we know that the economy has gone south, credit is practically unavailable, businesses are drawing their spending back and so is the consumer, so what are you going to do as a business owner or sales manager to make sure that your business is not one of those that will be gone tomorrow?

The two places that most business want to cut back are not the wisest choices:

Training - A successful sales team or business owner stays involved with continuous training, keeping their prospecting, and sales skills sharp. This is the one place that the small business owner pinches their pennies, finding no value in quality training. It is important to keep new material in front of both the business owner and the sales teams.  Now is not the time to stop learning more about how to be a more effective sales person, how to implement referral systems that will generate higher referred prospects and how to close more deals.

Memberships -  Business Owners and Sales Managers alike begin to pull back on the networking groups and organizations where their teams have been spending time. A better result would be to diversify the organizations and make sure that you and your team are spending time in the right places with the right people and measure their results. 

After completing our course many of our clients are amazed at how much time they have invested in  networking activities that are not productive or effective.  If you and your people are out there networking then it is impotant that they be trained to do more than create visibility.  They must be able to effectively leverage their networks that become profitable for both parties.

Now is not the time to pull back, now is the time to become more strategic and more effective.