It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn up to networking events to see what happens rather than having a clear objective about what they want to achieve from it. After all if you have taken the time to attend a network meeting surely you want to get a maximum return on time invested? In this article I want to explain how you can Turbo Charge the results you get when networking.

In November, I was the guest speaker at the Berkshire Property Meet hosted by Sylvia and Juswant Rai. As this was my third time speaking there, I shared a brand new presentation on Networking and Joint Venture Mastery. When Sylvia asked the 250 strong audience who had been to a network meeting before most people put their hands up. When she asked who knew specifically what they were looking for, only a handful of people put their hands up. Now maybe some people were new to networking and this was their first event. Maybe some had just come to listen to the speakers. But there were lots of people there who regularly go to networking events but fail to make the most of the opportunity whilst they are there.

Some of the main reasons for attending networking events are to expand your personal contacts, help other people and find resources you are looking for! You may have heard the expression. “The bigger your network the bigger you net worth” The more people you connect with at a networking meeting the more chance you have of finding what you need. It is not just about how many cards you hand out! You need to make sure you connect with people and have a conversation to see how you can help each other.

If you are really clear on what you want and what you are looking for you will have a much higher chance of finding it. For example if you are looking for a joint venture partner for a particular project, be very clear what you require and also what you can offer the potential JV partner. No one is going to want to do a JV with you if they don’t know what you can bring to the table. Also, a great question to ask when networking is “Who do you know who .......?” This is much better than just asking the person direct if they can help you. Instead you want to get them to think about people in their personal network as well as themselves.