You know how sometimes you get involved in a relationship and you are sure that it is one thing only to find out it is really something else? Women can certainly relate to this, they find themselves dating for a while and they believe they are in one kind of a relationship, headed down a road only to find out the other person took a different path because they thought they were in a different relationship.
It works the same way in business relationships too. You meet someone, have a one to one meeting, find some common ground and believe that you are on your way to a productive business relationship. You begin to practice givers gain, passing leads and referrals to the other person and after a few weeks or month you notice that it has become more of a one way relationship. The relationship is entirely different than what you thought it was going to be and once again you find yourself in one way relationship. One person is getting what they want while the other person is doing the giving.
This happens most often when you do not have open, clear communications on an ongoing and consistent manner. When there are no clear expectations communicated it causes confusion in the relationship.
If you want to develop a strong network it is important that you have clear communication, set expectations, and have a level of accountability for the relationships. Making sure that all of you are on the same page is important if you are going to develop a strong networking team.
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.
