Understanding The Eleventh Commandment Of Networking Success

Networking is really not all that difficult. It is only knowing the art of communication and knowing when to get in touch and with whom to get in touch. Time is of a great essence and once call will lead to another and eventually you will be guided to the right person.

It has been said that with networking you can reach almost anybody you might need for help with only three phone calls. And that means...anybody. Is there any truth in the statement? How is it possible to reach someone, with just three calls and that to anybody - somebody must be joking. How far can you really carry this networking stuff? Could you possible network to the President?


Some friends were discussing networking during a luncheon and someone raised the topic of it being possible to reach anyone one by making just three calls. How about the President? Do you think you could get to the Oval Office with three phone calls? One of them challenged.

They then embarked upon a game and said that let us pick some of people who are normally expected to be hard to reach and through networking principles see how close and within what sphere of time they could get to these allegedly 'toughies.'"

"OK," said one of the players. "Let's try the President. How close can we come?"

After just a little thought, this challenge turned out to be much easier than any of the little group expected. The closest friend of one of them had a brother who was an ambassador to a major nation and known by the President on a first name basis. They all agreed that there was at least a chance that we could get to the President through him in three phone calls.

The next guy then challenged and asked if it would be possible to get through to the Pope in the Vatican. For a moment there was dead silence. Then one of them came up with the solution. He had a Mentor in his personal network who was an intimate friend of someone at the Vatican and was, at that very time, working on a special project for the Pope.

Wow. You really might reach almost anybody in just three phone calls. Not always, of course. But we bet that those of you who develop your networks and aggressively pursue them will have a much better than average chance. You'll be that much closer to reaching almost anybody you need in just a couple of phone calls when you start with someone in your network.

The Eleventh Commandment of Success

In their eminently readable book, the Great train Robbery, the authors Ray Considine & Murray Raphel have proposed a Eleventh Commandment. This according to them is the commandment that every network should make his own: Thou Shall Steal Every Idea Thou Can Find...and Make It Thine Own.

By telling the readers of this commandment we are, in reality, stealing their idea, but not exclusively for ourselves, we are sharing it with the readers as it is an idea that is truly worth sharing. Like us many others from all walks of life stole this magic formula and made small fortunes for themselves.

The authors suggest a four steps, easy-to-follow guaranteed way of increasing business. How did the authors get these stories? How do they know their four-pronged idea really works? Hundreds of people who have attended their seminars and who have read their book write in, phone in or mention their personal successes after adopting what they call their the Four-mula.

We think their Four-mula is not only a formula for success but also an excellent networking formula. The Four-mula for Success requires only that you set aside part of your day to contact customers, prospects, patients, clients, friends or others in your network who can help you succeed.

To begin you must agree that it is important to set aside a certain portion of each day for new business or contacts. Spend the rest of the day with usual routine matters which involve keeping your present customers, patients or clients happy. If you agree to set aside up to 20 minutes each day, the formula will work for you.

There are four different ways. You can employ one from each category, four from one or any combination of four. The result is always the same - more business. Here's what Considine and Raphel suggest.

Four Notes

Write four notes a day to people you want to influence, to people in your network or to people you want in your network. These can be thank you notes, "newsy" notes, notes with clippings from magazines or newspapers on subjects of interest to the receiver, a greeting card, a note of congratulations, or a note of appreciation. You can probably think of even more reasons to write.

Pay attention now. We're not talking about letters, we're talking about notes. Hand-written notes work best, but a type written note is better than none. Those handy little "sticky" notes are great to attach to articles and clippings.

Finding reasons to write to people is not as hard as you may think. Just scan your local papers and you'll come up with some good reasons. A review of your networking files will reveal birthdays and other relative information for triggering a note. While reading magazines you'll come across articles and items to clip.

How effective are these notes? Consider how little personal mail the average person receives. Consider also that much of the mail people receive is negative in nature. The four notes leaving your desk are going to be positive. Now you can better understand how much your personal notes will mean to those who receive them.

Four Telephone Calls

This is the same as four notes. The only difference is that you make them over the phone. You will be amazed at the positive reactions. Ask anyone you know how often they've received a positive phone call from someone they did business with. Rarely. Now, imagine the reaction when you call, say your name, your company's name and, "Is this Mrs. Jones? Good morning. I'm calling to say thank you for doing business with us. We appreciate your business and want you to know if there is any other way we can help you in the future, we would certainly like to hear from you..."

Mrs. Jones will probably call back to see if you really work there or if your call was a practical joke. Who ever heard of a company calling to say thank you?

Here's another true-life story. A banker in a small town in Nebraska heard the four phone call technique explained at a seminar given by the authors. He immediately started a system of calling four business accounts every day. He would go through the "loans approved" list, pick up the phone, call, and thank the account for doing business with the bank.

One day he called to thank the owner of a business who had borrowed a substantial amount of money. The owner was in conference and was called away by his secretary, who assumed that any call from the bank was urgent. The businessman's reaction was astonishment. The only reason the banker was calling him was to thank him for the loan? He had assumed that the bank had reconsidered and decided not to give him the money!

He was reassured but did need convincing that the phone call was nothing more than a thank you. He then asked the banker to hold the phone for a minute. He returned with the message, "This is your lucky day. I'm in a meeting with a new business coming to town. I just told him about this phone call. He said you're the kind of bank he wants to deal with. Send a messenger over for his check for $800,000."

The banker nearly fainted. And that's just one of the many stories we could tell about the power of those four phone calls a day.

Four Personal Contacts

This should be easy for salespeople. It's a little tougher for those who don't always get away from the office. But most of you can do it on a fairly regular basis when you consider all of the people you do see in a day beyond the office or house. It may be when you're shopping, eating out, at church, at the country club, while pursuing hobbies or visiting.

What's the difference between just seeing people and making a networking contact? The personal networking contact comes from a disciplined effort to start or enhance an acquaintanceship. Often we're too casual when meeting new people for the first time. OK, we've met, so what? The networking contact is a positive, active contact. You make the contact with the expectation of something happening. You cause something to happen by being especially friendly, offering extra smiles, being inquisitive, handing out your card or by conveying a genuine interest in the person you meet.

Four Sales Calls

If completing four sales calls poses a problem on a daily basis, remember, you can mix and match items from the Four-mula. If you can't make four sales calls a day, make up the difference with notes or phone calls.

The greeting, the talking to and the contacting of a minimum number of people every day to make four sales calls is not difficult. What makes it a bit more challenging? Each of the four sales calls brings you closer to your goals each day.