If you are an entrepreneur or sales professional, you know that you can’t grow your business or hit your sales goals without the help of others.

Building meaningful relationships with potential partners, clients, and employees takes consistent interaction and effective communication in order to be successful.

So no matter if you are an extrovert or an introvert, networking is a mandatory activity for you.

I’m sure there are dozens of “networking opportunities” that you hear about regularly. Here are a few that come to mind immediately:

• The local or regional chamber of commerce
• Large national referral and leads groups
• Meetups or specific interest groups
• Facebook groups or other community forums/social media interactions

I know there are more, but you get the point.

How do you make time for all of these?

With so many “networking opportunities”, you’ll quickly realize that there is a fine line between getting effective work done and becoming a socialite. How do you identify the networking activities that are going to get you the best results with less effort?

Also, we haven’t begun to discuss the time it will take to master professional etiquette and event strategy like “which side should you put your nametag”. (For those who don’t know, it goes on the right because that’s the arm you extend to shake someone’s hand and greet them. )

With all of the time required and the typical mediocre events that you probably have attended, I’m sure that networking has continued to fall lower and lower on your list of priorities (as it did on mine before I found the perfect solution…more on that in a bit).

Now, to be clear, we’re not saying there are no merits to networking. Purposeful and meaningful connections are important, however over the years I’ve spent a great deal of time, money, and effort becoming a member of different organizations, attending weekly meetings, and joining various boards that didn’t lead to much but time and money lost.

What hurts most networking events (and how they could be improved)…

I won’t pretend these activities were a complete bust, as I have built a considerable network over the years. However, it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to do, and most of the activities or events did not bear fruit or live up to their promises at all.

It’s not that networking is inherently bad, it’s just that people screw it up. Inexperienced or poorly trained professionals show up at these events, probably with the best of intentions, but are trying to sell you their product or service before you’ve made it through the buffet line.

People are pushing their business card, and asking for yours. Some of the aggressive and more savvy in the bunch may even try to calendar a 1-1 meeting with you next week. It’s not necessarily their fault as I have seen training that tells you to do these tactics.

Either way, of course you are hoping that something comes out of these events, but the key to good networking is understanding the right goals for these activities.

What is the REAL purpose of networking and how do you measure success?

Think of an example of a “big” purchase or commitment that you’ve made recently.

When you choose a product, service, or brand;  you either choose one that you have a relationship with (familiarity and trust) or take a recommendation from someone that you have a relationship with. So we can agree that the common denominator in a sale is “the relationship” (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post).

Relationships are built through consistent contact and communication. This can be through product/ service development,  advertising, content creation/ distribution, referrals, and networking (ding ding ding).

So many people and events get networking wrong, because they are all focused beyond what the core of networking is really about; building quality relationships.

Building quality relationships through in-person networking isn’t easy. There has to be a good mix of climate, conversation, and understanding in order for you to build quality relationships that will also help your business.

When it comes to networking events and activities, your goal should be focused on relationship building FIRST!

Not lead generation, not sales, not referrals (these are important and are a part of the process, but putting them first in the networking strategy is only going to make your efforts less productive).

As I mentioned earlier, the core of networking is about building relationships first, which makes the activity a “long game” when it comes to business. Choosing the right networking methods is so important because when done the right way, they can actually shorten the process and be fruitful from the very first step taken.

How I discovered the most efficient and effective way to network…

A few years back, I can remember being at my wits end with unfruitful networking events, and really wanted to be able to have a consistent, effective, and efficient activity that took care of my number one objective; to build quality and mutually beneficial relationships that lead to results.

I happened to be reading Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill at the time, and I discovered the principle of a “mastermind group.”

In chapter 10 of TGR, Hill describes power as, “organized and intelligently directed knowledge”, that can help an individual put their plans into action. This is produced through “the driving force” of a mastermind.

Hill explains a mastermind broadly by defining it as the, “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.” The book goes on to discuss the successes of some of history’s most successful business people; 6 of which were part of the same mastermind group.

“Analyze the record of any man who has accumulated a great fortune, and many
of those who have accumulated modest fortunes, and you will find that they have
either consciously, or unconsciously employed the “Master Mind” principle.”

I happen to believe this one of the most impactful things you can do for your personal growth and business development.

After being introduced to this concept, I was hooked on figuring out how to find an existing mastermind group that made sense for me to join or putting one together.

Forming an effective mastermind group is easier said than done.

Some of the issues I ran into and you might as well are the following:

• Your group has too many of the wrong people or too many people in general.
• Your group doesn’t have the right structure (or any structure at all).
• Your group does not have good facilitation.
• Your group can’t coordinate the people together.
• Your group creates the wrong environment.

Having the idea to create or join a mastermind group took some trial and error, but when I finally achieved the “perfect” group, not only did I achieve my networking goal of building quality relationships that were mutually beneficial, I also realized the added benefits and important ways the mastermind group helped.

5 MAJOR benefits of joining a mastermind group

1. You have an idea, but need other people to brainstorm, provide feedback, and fresh perspectives to help you flush out the details, get unstuck, and put things into action.
2. You don’t know what you don’t know, it’s one of the three levels of learning. This is sometimes referred to as a “blind spot”, not even recognizing there is an issue. What are you missing that you dont know youre missing? A mastermind group can give you increased confidence, better decision making, and new business ideas.
3. You know you need partnerships, and it’s important that other people know, like, and trust you. You have the opportunity to build real relationships, and therefore doors to partnerships, business opportunities, and friendships.
4. You need accountability to yourself, that’s how you keep focus and maximize your momentum. While all on your own, it’s hard to stick to consistent efforts so even the most conscientious need a push sometimes. A group can help you develop and action plan and objectives to follow through on.
5. You want to develop yourself, that’s fundamental to a mastermind group commitment. Whether you want to improve your communication skills, leadership acumen, as a speaker or coach, the right group can give you the opportunity to put thoughts into action and really develop yourself and your business.

“Success is not a solo project. It needs to be shared. It’s not a competition. There’s plenty to go around.”
~ Mark Victor Hansen. Author, One Minute Millionaire

Have you ever considered joining a mastermind group, inner circle, or roundtable? Are you familiar with this concept? What are some of the networking hurdles that you deal with consistently?

If you are looking to become more efficient and successful at networking, I encourage you to read more here.

I hope you found this post insightful and compelling enough to make the commitment to join a good mastermind group. If you haven’t already, I’m 100% sure it will be a game changer for you and your business.