NLP Practitioner Training Courses | Experts Forum - Networking

Building your 'inner network' Judith Germain

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:35:04 GMT

Networking - Judith Germain discusses building an 'inner network' with NLP Trainer Michael Beale

Judith Germain FCIPD is Managing Director of Dynamic Transitions Ltd and specialises in developing leadership talent. She has over 10 years experience working with wilfully independent people which she defines as mavericks or Troublesome Talent.

You can listen to the podcast from: http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/judith-3.mp3

Please allow up to 2 minutes for the download.

Networking to build a brand and receive referrals - Judith Germain

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:25:31 GMT

Networking - Discussion between NLP Trainer Michael Beale and Judith Germain, January 2009

Judith Germain FCIPD is Managing Director of Dynamic Transitions Ltd and specialises in developing leadership talent. She has over 10 years experience working with wilfully independent people which she defines as mavericks or Troublesome Talent?.

(You can listen on the following MP3 file, please allow 2 minutes to download)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networki...networking.mp3

Transcript TBA

Keith Ferrazzi: How Do I Start Networking?

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:11:53 GMT

Keith Ferrazzi: How to Avoid Becoming a Networking Jerk

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:08:22 GMT

Social Networks - Boosting Google Ranking in Days not Months

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:06:47 GMT

Social Network Training - Why Ecademy ? - Part 2 of 2

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:56:40 GMT

Social Network Training - Why Ecademy ? - Part 1 of 2

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:51:32 GMT

Twitter in Plain English

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:26:39 GMT

Social Networking in Plain English

Liam Beale — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:25:15 GMT

Penny Power - Founder Ecademy

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:32:37 GMT

Penny Power Interview

Penny Power, Founder of Ecademy, discusses her ability to create a place where 'people can be themselves and be proud of who and what they are' with Michael Beale - May 2008.

Ecademy's cause is 'to build the world's largest Trusted Business Network by connecting people to each other - enabling knowledge, contacts and opportunities to be shared for World Wide Wealth'.

(Please allow up to two minutes for the MP3 file to download if you would like to listen to this discussion.)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/Penny.mp3

Networking Tips

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:20:20 GMT

Tips for networkers!

Please add any tips you may have for anybody to help them network.

Ron Bates Interview (Ron has 40,000 contacts on LinkedIn)

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:08:49 GMT

Ron Bates Interview

On line Networking - Ron Bates

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Ron Bates, April 2008,

Ron is a Managing Principal with the retained executive search firm Executive Advantage Group, Inc.

(Please allow up to 2 minutes for the MP3 file to download if you want to listen to the download)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/ron.mp3

Podcast transcript see following article:

Andrew Wilcox Interview

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:47:14 GMT

On line Networking - Andrew Wilcox

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Andrew Wilcox, March 2008.

Andrew runs 'Cabre' which helps other businesses to rapidly capture, organise and publish their knowledge. For example: recording and publishing events from team meetings to large conferences; creating mind maps for presentations, web sites and printed publications; structuring early stage projects and product developments by converting ideas into plans and requirements; training companies and individuals to exploit Mindjet’s MindManager software.

(Please allow up to 2 minutes for the MP3 file to download if you want to listen to the discussion.)

http://nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/Andrew2.mp3

Podcast transcript:

Michael : Good morning Andrew

Andrew : Good morning Michael

Michael : First of all let me say I'm really pleased that you've agreed to have this conversation about online networking and I'm genuinely really interested in what you're going to say. So can I ask you to kick it off just by introducing yourself to our audience and saying a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Andrew : My name's Andrew Wilcox and my business is called Cabre. It has two purposes, to service the MindManager community and to make use of MindManager in a variety of situations. MindManager is a very comprehensive Mind Mapping software which interfaces with the Microsoft Office world.

So I retail, I train people on how to use it and then do jobs for people, such as produce Mindmaps that they can take in presentations when they're trying to partner up with new business's - to explain their business in terms of how the new combination would work.
Through to taking Mind Mappers to conferences along with video people and audio people and recording the whole event and publishing it on a website.

Michael : So what experience do you have yourself on online networking?

Andrew : I've been connecting with people online for quite a long time. I was looking back on this yesterday - I started using email at work at the late 1980's. I certainly remember arranging to meet people at the pub using the office email system, and they were only next door to me. A similar thing to that, also in the early years I was with Compuserve in the early 90's, I had a modem on the back of my Amstrad portable PC, and found out interesting things like how - what the fingering was for a fife that I bought at a car boot sale, through that process of asking a question on compuserve, inside a music group somewhere.

Michael : And which sites do you work with at the moment?

Andrew : The one I have the major strength with at the moment is Ecademy, which I joined in 2004. I also do a little bit of work in LinkedIn and Xing and I'm on Facebook too, but I can't say that I'm very active on it.

Michael : What are some of the benefits that you've got out of it yourself?

Andrew : Directly for the business, I get attendees for my courses, and people buy software from me because they've met me on Ecademy, principally and see what I do. I get referrals from clients, I get associates that work for me with my clients. And Ive received lots and lots of advice on sales and marketing and internet marketing, building websites and so on.

Michael : Why do you think that online networking is important for business's today?

Andrew : I think it's important, particularly for small business', because we need help! We're operating as individuals or small partnerships, inside those, the individuals and the partnerships, but between those, that experience is often in quite a narrow area - for example my background is in engineering, it's not in sales or marketing. So the more we help each other, the better we'll get and the more able we'll be to take on bigger and better business's with bigger and better clients.

Michael : As an overview, what do you think are some of the characteristics of people that are successful on networking online?

Andrew : I think that the first thing is being able to listen. It's not selling, it's listening. it's finding out what other people can do, what other people want. It's then connecting them with the resources that they want - and when you get the opportunity it's about being very clear about what it is you do. understand the message quickly and begin to ask you question about what you do rather than you trying to tell them what you do.

Michael : so where and when do you network online?

Andrew : I think I'd have to say almost any time. it's part of my working day. My network is part of my business, so it's very difficult to differentiate it at some times, and I don't think that I particularly want to. So most of the time I'm working from my home office, but I'm also networking in hotels, in the members lounge of the IoD where they're free wireless, at train stations, anywhere.

Michael : Do you stick to business hours, or is it more like a 24-7 thing.

Andrew : I don't go 24-7, but it's not a 9 to 5. So I'm quite often working on it in the evenings, and have been periods that I've been working very early in the morning but not in the last year - I've managed to stop doing that addiction.

Michael : If you were going to teach somebody how to network online. What the key things that you would ask them to do? What are the key things you would ask them to consider?

Andrew : I think they've got to create a strong profile first of all, because that's the first thing that people see of them online. They should then try and find people with similar interests, because that will be a cozy and comfortable group to start in, because we all have the same language and you'll start to understand the process's and tools that are involved whichever online networking site you're using.

The next stage would be to start commenting on other peoples blogs, and then doing your own blogs, and then joining clubs, and then forming your own clubs. It's an iterative process, you don't have to do it all at once.

Michael : You started off by talking about having a decent profile, what do you think are the elements that make up a good profile?

Andrew : I think profiles are very individual things. it's not like trying to replicate a CV, where you've seen one CV you've seen them all. Your profile should be different, it should be characteristic of you. So my belief is that you should write it and not get someone else to write it. You might want to take advice from people - and they should get a flavour of your attitudes, the business's you're involved with, your social interests, because someone may want to talk to you about that, and then lead to something else you never know.

Michael : What skills do you have that enable you to be good at this?

Andrew : I think you have to be able to type. I was talking to someone only the other evening and he said 'I'm going to make a business now out of teaching people to type because you can see that people are very slow at interacting and that is the method of the keyboard - you can use ink, you can use voice-to-text, but predominantly it's typing. So if they're going to get going, just brush up on your typing skills.

I think now there's a need to understand some html, and the other things that go towards making up a web page. because you're missing out on the richness that you can achieve. So if you don't understand how to embed your short youtube video onto one of the pages on your site, then you're going to fall behind. So it's important.

Michael : How hard do you think it is to learn the amount of html that they actually need?

Andrew : I don't think it's very difficult. I certainly think it's much easier than learning a new foreign language. Again, you can do it in stage, some people struggle to just add links to what they're writing, others struggle to add images - these are two straight forward things - and you just have to talk to someone that knows how to do it and let them explain it, and they're all out there willing to do that on these social networks.

Michael : What do you believe about yourself when you're networking about yourself when you're networking about somebody?

Andrew : An interesting question. I think first of all, that I'm sharing something valuable with others. So if they're talking to me about something, I'm giving them some of my knowledge, because it's pointless it all being locked inside my head - I would prefer it being out there and being used.

Michael : And what do you believe about the people that you're networking with?

Andrew : That they're watching me, hopefully. Or listening to me. Or reading me. You have to believe that the rest of the world is actually looking at what you're doing, otherwise it's going to be a rather pointless activity.

Michael : Do you have a personal mission or vision? Who is Andrew when you're doing this activity?

Andrew : I think the mission is sort of about growing my business, and about finding collaborators, finding good people who I know I could work with.

Michael : What do you think are the biggest issues that people have in networking today? and how do you overcome some of them yourself? How do you approach some of them yourself?

Andrew : I think it's the diversity of networks. 'Which one should I join?'. Is it one of the local breakfast clubs, or is it Ecademy, or is it one of these global or larger ones? There's a big struggle in trying to work out what to do, but I think you have to and I think you have to focus on the ones that will work for you.

So if it's BNI, then make put your effort in and make it BNI for you - if it's Ecademy put it there, if it's LinkedIn, put it there. And play with the others, but it would be very hard to be as effective spreading yourself across too many of these different networks. So I think its focus.

Michael : Now this might sound like a bit of a strange question, but I've always been fascinated by what people have to say - if you had to describe online networking as a sort of fairy tale with fantasy animals, or cartoon characters, how would you describe the relationship between yourself or people as they network - in those metaphorical ways.

Andrew : I think it's a sort of jungle. it's a place full of wondrous fruit. Dangerous animals and dead ends. marvelous valleys in the hilltops. It's immensely fertile. Sometimes it's very difficult to communicate through the forest. You want to get a message from A to B but there's a very thick wall between you and them - or you're at the bottom of the valley and they're at the top. And you're in different situations, so it's very difficult to understand what each party is trying to do.

You see people that are working together - but they diverge very quickly, and become antagonistic, they fall into fighting camps too soon. And it's quite tribal as well I think.

Michael : So if you find yourself in a situation where what you've just described happens, there's a sort of big gap, or whichever way you're described it, how would you approach it?

Andrew : Well my approach is to not talk about what the other people are saying. But to state my beliefs, to say 'I believe this' 'I would like this to happen.' 'the information I have is this.' Not to say you're wrong, not to say 'I don't believe what you're saying, that's a load of cods-wallop.' that only exacerbates and winds up the situation.

And because these people are not there with you, and there's no body language, there's nothing going on between you except the text in these cases. All you can do then is state your position and be strong about that and then let people ask questions.

Or you can ask questions about people. You can ask them to explain what they mean by this or that, and allow them to either shoot themselves in the foot, or let you know what they're on about.

Michael : So what would you like to plug? What would you like to let our listeners know that you're actually doing at the moment?

Andrew : One of the things that I'm doing to give back to my network is organising two events, which are called Open Minded days, which is following the open space technology formats, which is only a theme and no agenda. The agenda is made up on the day by the people that attend. It's a very powerful meeting format - and we're hoping to have over a hundred networkers in Bracknell on the 22nd of April and the Amadeus centre in Paddington on the 29th of April. Discussing the theme 'How could we get more out of Ecademy?'

And that doesn't necessarily mean the website or the management, it's about 'How can we get more out of our relationship with each other?' So 'How can we improve our reputations?' 'How can we collaborate?' 'How can we understand each other better?' 'How can we gain more knowledge?'

And I think that should be of interest to anyone interested in online and offline marketing.

Michael : Ok, and where can people find more information about that?

Andrew : On the Ecademy website there is a club called the Open Minded Days club.

Michael : Ok, and you could give your own contact details.

Andrew : My name's Andrew Wilcox, my telephone number is 01962738534 and my email address is Andrew@cabre.co.uk

Michael : Excellent, thank you very much indeed Andrew

Andrew : Ok Michael, very good talking to you.

Lesley Morrissey Interview

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:45:14 GMT

People Networking - Lesley Morrissey

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Lesley Morrissey, November 2007.

Lesley Morrisey, who runs a professional writing practice discusses what networking means to her, where and when she networks and what she considers to be some of capabilities and beliefs of effective networkers.

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/lesley.mp3

Lesley : Good morning Michael

Michael : Firstly can you introduce yourself and give our listeners some background about yourself and what you do.

Lesley : I tell people that I am an expert in read-ability which usually throws them. I'm actually a professional copywriter and also a non-fiction editor and I've written all my life so my career sort of appeared out of doing all of that. And I've learned an awful lot about how people read as well as what people read, which is why I say that I'm an expert in read-ability because it's not just about the words it's about how the words are presented to the reader.

You can write an absolutely killer copy, but find that the reader can't take the information on board purely and simply because the way in which the copy is presented makes it very difficult to read.

Michael : We're going to be talking about networking so would you let me know what networking means to you?

Lesley : I didn't used to think that I was very good at networking, I didn't like going to things like Chamber of Commerce meetings and milling about. And coming away wondering why I'd been.

I was a member of Ecademy back in 2003, but I didn't really use it, I didn't really get it properly - I had about 24 contacts, and at the time I was as director of a company that was a consultancy and human resources training, and I decided to jump ship, I wasn't doing what I wanted to do, and I was spending a lot of time in the office, not doing training, not doing coaching, not doing what I like to do and I decided to go back to writing, at which point I though OK', I need an income. I'd not got any money out of the company that I was working for, so I'd better get stuck in and find some people to work for.

I decided that Ecademy might be the route into doing that because I like writing and it meant that I could just sit in front of the computer and type away happily and I worked quite hard at developing my contacts on Ecademy, and I did get that it wasn't just a numbers game, its partly just a numbers game, but having lots of people in your network is not the answer because if they don't really know you very well there's not much point.

So I started going to the London meetings because I'm in a situation where I'm an hour hour and a half journey into London, and that's great. And I started to meet people and I started building relationships. Since I restarted my company in 2005 I have never done any sales, it's all come to me through networking.

Michael : So talking about networking, where and when do you it?

Lesley : I did some of it online. But only in certain places, I'm a member of some online networks, liked LinkedIn, and Bing, or Crossing, or whatever it's called. And unfortunately Facebook, which I don't find useful as a business tool, but people keep telling me to persevere.

I do find Ecademy is great, because it suits my style, it is to do with relationships, with getting to know people and certainly since last year when I upgraded my membership to the Black Star level that has made a huge difference, because the way in which people network in Black Star, people actually make the effort to get to know you.

Not to sell themselves to you, but to get to know you. And I think that's the secret, because I'm doing that outside of E-cademy as well with my local network, because I used to go to breakfast meetings every week, but it is to do with understanding somebody else, what they do, what they've go to offer, how they operate, what it's like working with them.
And then you say, Well, now I can refer you, because I actually believe in what you've got. And I think people buy people as much as they buy what you do.

Michael : Lets look at what you actually do when you're networking. You're going into a meeting, maybe where you don't know anybody, what do you actually do there?

Lesley : It's rare that I go to a meeting where I don't already know anybody. I've usually been invited by somebody that I already know. I tend to talk to whoever I'm nearest to, because I suppose I'm reasonably outgoing, and I'm quite happy to talk to people Sometimes they might find it hard to shut me up actually (Laughter), I ask them what they do and I ask them what sort of business they're looking for, and what is their ideal customer, because if they don't know that, it's a good exercise for them to clarify that, in order to get the right business.

So I get into it with the helping of the people aspect, and if they come back and bring business to me that's great, but the thing is when you help other people, it's not so much that they're obliged to repay the favour, but they actually want to because they feel good about you. Networking isn't about going out and selling, and anybody that comes along and tries to hard-pitch you, is really not going to get very far in a networking environment.

Michael : If you were to teach a newbie at networking, what would you do? What are the key points that you would get them to look out for?

Lesley : Firstly they need to get their business card right, I would say that because I'm in the right business! The business card needs to have on it somewhere, what you do. Because just having your name and your company name is not always enough for people to remember, and not everybody writes on the back of the business card.

I use the back of my business card, and it has a brief outline of what I actually do. There's plenty of space around it to write what date it was that I gave it to you, or where you met me or whatever, but it's really important when you've been to a networking meeting to remember, that there might have been a hundred people there or even two hundred people there, but if you've got seven or eight cards, you can't always remember who it is that gave you each one, unless you have a bit of an idea about what the company did, and that should be beyond obvious from the card.

Michael : What else would you say is absolutely essential?

Lesley : I think you have to be interested in other people. And if you go along thinking who can I sell my services to you're going to fail. I think you really need to go in there thinking who can I get to know who could be really interesting and I might be able to help? and real networking is about connecting people.

It's not just about going and selling what you do, because people are looking for relationships, not yet another product in whatever field you are and I go to several different meetings regularly, and there are people who do the same thing in different groups, but there are some that I really am happy to work with, and there are some that I like, but I don't have any allegiance to whatsoever.

Michael : And the difference between them? What do you think makes the difference between them?

Lesley : Usually it's the person. And their approach to it, and the way they dress their business I suppose, but also their willingness to help other people. For instance, I have been in three groups, all of which have had an independent financial advisor in the group.

All of whom I liked, but it was the one who said I can see you've got a problem, let me come and talk to you, let me see what I can do to help you. And I'm going - No you won't be able to help me because I've got this problem. And he's coming along and saying leave it with me. Went away, rang me up and said Ok, it's sorted and I went You're joking!

And he just sorted everything out for me, he made it terribly easy for me. The paperwork came through, I didn't have to try and understand it, he explained it all to me, told me where to sign. He told me what I was signing for, he made sure I didn't fall down any holes. And I was just blown over by him. So of course I referred some people to him because I was really impressed with what he did for me.

Michael : Let's go back to yourself. What skill or abilities do you think you have that enable you to network well?

Lesley : I talk to people fairly easily, so I'm not going to stand by the door scared to open my mouth, but also, I think, I am interested in other people, and I like to find out what they do and I'm always asking questions, so I suppose that that's a good start, because if in doubt ask a question, and then it starts the other person talking and then you don't have to talk.

Michael : How did you learn to be good at this?

Lesley : I was trained as a coach.

Michael: Ah!

Lesley : Sorry. (Laughter)

Michael : What bits of learning to be a coach do you think have helped you with your networking?

Lesley : I started coaching informally, because of being a trainer, and then you find that there are members of your training group that want to shanghai you and corner you, and ask you for more information, and more time, it just sort of came from there. And then I did, a diploma in performance coaching, and I actually learned to coach people who have specific career issues.

What we were taught to do first a lot of it is to do with attitude, and that sort of resonated with me because I have a belief that managing your attitude is the answer to most stuff.

Which might be a bit sweeping, but actually it does make a huge difference, and if you know how to manage your attitude, then you're halfway to success because you can get yourself from being Oh, I don't think this is going to work to I know it's going to work, I just need to work out how. And that's a key part of anything in business, you have to work out how to be focused on success and not failure. Because if you're focused on failure, then that's when you're looking and that's where you're going.

Michael : OK well that leads to the next question. What do you believe about yourself when you network?

Lesley : I know that what I do I'm good at, and I know that I'm professional. I know that I have things that other people don't know, and I'm more than happy to tell them that.

Sometimes it's hard for them to stop me telling them, because I get on my soapbox and I go off on one.

Things like I will look at the back of peoples business cards, and I will say do you know how much marketing space you're wasting here? and I will say if you write in teeny-weeny writing in white letters on a dark blue background people are going to find it really hard to read and then explain to them why. I think part of getting people onboard is that if they understand why such a thing is not working, then they're more inclined to say oh ok then, that can be changed. If you just tell them it's wrong, there's a resistance there.

So I share my knowledge, I don't come up to them and say Are you going to pay me to do that? I just share my knowledge, because that's what it's all about. And I send to people The Goldfish Report, which is all about read-ability.

Michael : Moving from yourself to other people, do you have any beliefs there about the people that you're networking with?

Lesley : I've got an open mind. They're all there for various reasons. I don't necessarily think that they're all there for the same reason. Some are there to sell. I like connecting people, so I listen to people who might not have any need for, but I might connect them with somebody else when I think oh actually I know somebody you should talk to. It's a bit like one of the things that you get when somebody joins the Black Star on Ecademy as new members, they'll say you should talk to these people because they might have useful contacts for you.

Michael : Do you have a personal mission when you're doing this? Who are you when you're networking?

Lesley : Me! I just go as me, and I think you need to go into any networking meeting with some sort of focus.

Michael : That leads to a question. What actually are you trying to achieve when you network?

Lesley : Depends on the meeting. When I go to a big meeting with a couple of hundred people there, and I already know people I will try and say Hi to the people that I know, but often I'll have met people online, and not offline, so my focus will be on trying to put names and faces together, and actually meet the people in face-to-face, that I've not met before and I may have connected with online.

If I'm going to a regular meeting, one that everybody meets once a week, I probably know most of them. There's still the odd one that I've never sat down and had a one-to-one with, and I think one-to-ones do make a big difference to your connections.

So I probably aim to have a chat with one of them after a meeting, if that's possible. I'm always looking to see who can I connect with who. I went to a Wealth Dynamics weekend, maybe a year - a bit more than a year ago and I spent the whole time running about going 'you need to talk to so-and-so!

And I've just seen something on this wall, and that's just what you do! So can you just hang around here and I'll just try and find this person! and it was fun. People, some of them, do come back to you later to say thank you for connecting me with this person, that was really great, whatever I can do to help you just ask.

So when you need to ask you can.

Michael : Going back to one-to-one's, what is a one-to-one to you?

Lesley : A one-to-one is a period of time where two people sit together and find out about each other and each others business's, and I say that deliberately, it's not just about the business, it's about the sits behind it as well. And once you've got to know somebody, it's better that you're able to understand what they do, and you get to know them, and you get a feel of who they are and what their beliefs and values are, and that's when you start saying actually I'd quite like to do business with that person or that's somebody that I would feel comfortable recommending to anybody else in my network.

Michael : Before I ask for you to give your contact details, is there a last point that you'd like to let our listeners know, about what you think is important about networking. Maybe something that we've missed, or that we haven't really talked about.

Lesley : I think it is to have focus. It is to go into a meeting knowing what you would like to get out of it. As long as that's not half a grand's worth of sales, because that's not going to happen. I do think also that people are interested in people who are interested in them and that's the key to it all. If you go in with an open mind, wanting to find out about other people, your relationships will start to develop. And business relationships that work are based on liking and respecting each other.

Michael : Excellent. If you could give your contact details.

Lesley : Yes, it's Inside News. We're a professional copywriting practice and we do websites brochures, articles, press releases, anything that's got words in it really. Our contact details are phone 01245473296 and the email is info@insidenews.co.uk. And the website is the same, it's www.insidenews.co.uk

Michael : Thank you very much indeed.

Lesley : It's a pleasure Michael.

Mike Segall Interview

michaelbeale@ppimk.com — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:34:46 GMT

People Networking - Mike Segall

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Mike Segall, November 2007.

Mike Segall FICM is a Marketing Consultant with over 23 years experience in running his own 6 businesses and networking for a living

(Please allow up to 2 minutes for the MP3 file to download if you want to isten to this discussion)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/networking/Mike_S.mp3

Michael : Good afternoon Mike. Would you introduce yourself and let everybody know a little bit about what you do.

Mike : Yes of course, it's a pleasure to be speaking to you. My name's Mike Segall, I network for a living, I'm a marketing consultant who has seven different business's.

Michael : Would you give us an idea of just one or two of those business's? So people have a flavour of the sorts of things that you do.

Mike : Yes, they're very different they range from marketing through to debt management and networking.

Michael : Just to kick off - what does networking actually mean to you?

Mike : Networking to me, is all about meeting people, being curious about people, finding out what they do it's very important. I come from the school of giving unconditionally, which means that I approach networking with a how can I help you? angle, as oppose to a how can you help me?. And the absolute belief that if you give unconditionally you get back far more than you actually give.

Michael : And what's your purpose in networking?

Mike : My purpose in networking is to help and mentor other people in their business's, to generate work for them as well, obviously, to build relationships because in my book, having reached the wonderfully ripe old age of fifty one, I tend to look to business with people that I like, trust and respect, and I exhibit quite a high degree these days of quality control for my own clients.

Michael : So, where and where do you network?

Mike : I network extensively. When I talk about this wonderful phrase networking for a living, it's what I do. And what I mean by that is that I work on my business's and not in my business's. So you'll find me networking at breakfast, brunch, lunch, mid-afternoon and evening networking events.

Michael : So that's when where do you do it?

Mike : I go to two regular breakfast meetings. Both in central London, both very strong networking groups, I also belong to eademy, I'm a life member of ecademy.com which is probably the world largest online networking community. I also belong to three or four Chambers of Commerce, which I find a very good source of networking, and I also run my own networking organisation.

Michael : So when we're talking about networking if you're going to a networking meeting, you're going to one of the breakfast that you're talking about what do you actually do when youre there?

Mike : While I'm actually there, I do what I prepared to do. So the first stage of going to meetings is actually preparing for that meeting so in advance of going to that meeting, I'll try and know who's going to be there. If it's a regular meeting, I'll know who's going to be there, so what I'll be preparing in advance is my own sixty second presentation, which will be different every week.

While I'm actually at the meeting I'll be doing my sixty second presentation, I'll be networking before the meeting with other group members, I'll be listening carefully to their presentation, specifically for the specific referrals that they're looking for, in case I can give them a referral and put some business contacts their way.

Then there will typically be a ten minute presentation by one of the members, to give a more in depth look about what it is that they do. And most of the regular weekly meetings will end with a referrals round, in which people stand up and get referrals from each other.

Michael : If you were with a newbie networker, or somebody who had just started networking at one of these meetings, what are the sort of things that you would tell them to focus on?

Mike : The first main focus is to listen to listen very carefully to what other people are saying. Arrange to have one-to-one meetings, this is a key point of networking, and things to learn when you're at the meeting to listen very carefully to what people have to say, and see if there are ways in which you can fit in to what they're looking for and decide if they are people who can also help your business.

Michael : How is it that you actually became good at this? What has led you to networking in business?

Mike : I've been working for over twenty years. When you look at some of the things I teach, I'm actually a credited lecturer in networking at London Uiversity, and one of the things I've looked at are the attributes that make an outstanding networker.

And I know that I've got quite a few of those, first and foremost, is that I'm actually naturally curious about people, and if someone says to me that they're an accountant a lot of people might go Oh here we go, another boring accountant. I'm actually much more interested in why they became an accountant in the first place. So I'm curious in people for the sake of them being people, rather than just looking at the label, of what's on the outside.

Michael : So, curiosity is one thing what other things would you mention?

Mike : General interest in people and their business. Outstanding networkers are always, always, good listeners, and are able to extract the important information from what's being said to them. They're normally good conversationalists, naturally gregarious people they don't have to be loud and flamboyant, because often that gets in the way of a good conversation. But basically you've got to be interested more in the other person, in other words, you've got to be interested rather than trying to be interesting.

Michael : Looking at yourself, was this something that you've learned over time, or that you were a natural at it, and how do you manage to be good at it now?

Mike : I think a lot of it is practice, and the more you network, I believe, the better you become at networking. In terms of personality, no I wasn't always I mean, I'm a very confident individual, but that wasn't always the case, I didn't have public speaking skills, but people aren't born with public speaking skills it's a learned skill, and consequently as years went by, and as I did more networking and grew to understand what it was really all about, I just became better at it.

Michael : Going into a networking meeting, what do you believe about yourself?

Mike : Going into a meeting I believe that I actually have something to give to a meeting. So I go into the meeting looking for ways that I can help other people.

Michael : And if there are people there that you haven't yet met, what do you generally believe about them?

Mike : I don't go in with any preconceived ideas. What I want to do is see what they have to say for themselves and then make some sort of value judgement based on what they have to say and if I find them or their business particularly interesting, I might think that I could help them, or that they could help me, than I'll talk to them and arrange to have a one-to-one.

Michael : As you're networking, do you have a personal mission or vision? Who is Mike as he networks?

Mike : When I'm in networking mode do you mean my overall mission?

Michael : Yes.

Mike : If I have a mission at all My mission is to, as I say, network for a living.

My overall goal in terms of networking for a living, which I'm incidentally writing a book about called, unsurprisingly, networking for a living is to try and put across to other people the way in which I work, because to be honest Mike, I don't believe that I'm a great visionary, but I do believe that I'm working in a way today that will become much more common in the future, as more people become self employed and people who are naturally good networkers realise the strong position that puts them in, in terms of actual business, so when you're working on a business, rather than in a business, you actually have the ability to bring in a lot of new business, which in my particular case I then pass back through to my partners and the staff that work with me.

Michael : Before I ask you for your contact details, is there anything that you feel that we've left out that's important, is there any last gem, or piece of advice, or suggestion, that you'd like to give to people?

Mike : Yes, I think the key thing that people get wrong when they're networking is the follow-up. I've talked during this conversation about preparation and what you actually do when you're in a meeting, but all of those things are a complete waste of time unless you actually follow up. And by follow up, I don't mean getting back to the office and throwing the twenty business cards that you've avidly collected during the meeting into a box, and then doing nothing about them but actually doing what you said that you're going to do.

So if you've said to someone I'll call you tomorrow, than call them tomorrow! Because the one thing that you have in networking is your reputation, that is the key thing and everything you do and say to people, you are a brand. So I am the brand Mike Segall, and the brand Mike Segall relies on his reputation. And so you need to follow up, and you need to do the things that you said you're going to do. And as a piece of advice, that's probably the best piece of advice that I could give to anybody that's going out their and networking.

Michael : Excellent can you give people your contact details?

Mike : Yes of course. The best way to contact me is either by email, which is newbusinessgeneration@yahoo.co.uk or on my mobile which is 07739516596 or through my main office which is 0207569328

Michael : Thank you very much

Mike : Thank you.