Top 10 Ways to Waste Your Time in a Networking Group! 06/29/09
Membership in a good networking group can be worth a considerable amount of money. Especially if you calculate the 
time you spend each month and the business value of your time. Make your time and efforts worthwhile. Don’t squander your opportunity by doing the wrong things in those meetings!
Success in a networking group comes when the rest of the group members trust you enough to open up their best referrals to you. Until they’ve seen your work, you have to earn that trust by demonstrating your professionalism to them. Since I founded BNI almost 25 years ago, I’ve seen how people have truly succeeded in networks–and I’ve seen how people have totally wasted their time in them.
Here are the top 10 ways to waste your time in a networking group (avoid all of them):
No. 10. Go ahead, air your grievances among your fellow networkers and guests; after all, they really want to hear about your complaints.
No. 9. Wing it in your 60-second presentations; you’ve got plenty more chances anyway.
No. 8. Use one-to-one meetings to talk about your networking group’s issues instead of learning a lot more about each other.
No. 7. Focus your efforts on selling your services primarily to the members of the group.
No. 6. Don’t rush following up on a member’s referral. They know where you are.
No. 5. Use others’ 60-second presentation time to think about what referrals you can give that week.
No. 4. Why invite your own guests? Just focus on those who show up.
No. 3. Don’t worry if you get to the meeting late. No one will notice.
No. 2. Be absent; it’s no big deal. You can just call in your referrals . . . right?
And the No. 1 way to waste your time in networking groups . . .
No. 1. It’s OK, take that phone call or text message during a meeting. It won’t bother anyone, and it’s a real sign of professionalism that everyone admires.
So there it is–The Top 10 Ways to Waste Your Time in a Networking Group! Print this out. Memorize it. Share it with your fellow networking members. Above all–avoid these mistakes! You’ll get a lot more out of your group and so will your fellow members.
I’d love to hear some more ways that are big time wasters in a networking group. Please leave your comments below. Let’s add to this list.
Oh, and to visit a good networking group in your area, feel free to Click here.
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9 Responses to this article
One of the biggest things that turns me off at a networking meeting is when someone takes several minutes to do their “30 second” personal intro. I feel that it is disrespectful to the rest of the group as well as inconsiderate of everybody’s time. If you can’t sum up what you do in a few seconds, maybe you should be purchasing an infomercial.
What great material! If Educational Coordinators were to deliver this, it would proactively help the chapters eliminate many weak areas and propel them to achieving higher results. Thanks for changing my game plan for a chapter visit tomorrow!
Great job! I have read these before and presented it to my chapters I oversee as an AD and my own chapter. These are wonderful to reinforce and keep handy as people have a tendency to forget the little things.
I could not agree more! If you are going to invest your time and money into joining a networking group, you need to do everything you can to make it work.
I occasionally see these things in groups I visit.
I would like to add to No. 5, “Use others’ 60-second presentation time to think about what referrals you can give that week.” the phrase “or the appointment you have later in the day.”
If you are going to be there, be there!
I am an Education Coordinator in our BNI chapter, so this will be next weeks topic! Thank you Dr. Misner!
Great article!
How about leaving your name badge at home or forgetting where it is? Where did I leave it? Is it in my bedroom drawer, in my car, in my briefcase? Besides, I don’t like name badges- the pin makes a hole in my shirt.It really doesn’t matter anyway- everybody knows who I am!
Have you heard stuff like this, too? Remember that your name badge is a networking tool. It makes conversation easier and helps you “stand out from the crowd”. And guests do not know who you are- help them out by wearing a name badge. Here’s another great networking tip- wear your BNI name badge all day long and watch what happens!
Some other things to avoid:
Being “miserly” with business cards
Refusing Leadership Team positions in your BNI chapter
Not following up with guests
Using Referral and Testimonial time to say “thank you”
Remember that everything you do, everywhere you go, reflects on you as a business person. I’ve got just 3 words for you- are you referrrable? Are you doing everything you can to get referred to? Look over these tips and act accordingly. Go for it!
“If at first you don’t succeed, try reading the directions”!
Shawn McCarthy BNI ED Ventura County, Ca.
What a great article. As an ambassador, I am going to use this to motivate one of my chapters and use it for the Ed Co slot this week. We are trying to grow our chapter and this could do the trick.
Great post! Usually we read what to do and seeing a list of “what not to dos” is powerful!
Thanks for sharing this perspective.
This is a great post! I’ve certainly been in other referral groups where people have done most of those things. And ultimately I’ve left the group out of frustration, despite getting pretty good referrals. Lateness and absence are the two things that really annoy me.
Chris