Are you a lion or a fisherman when it comes to networking?
A networking lion approaches each meeting looking for prey to sell to. The other business people in the room are essentially gazelles.
The lion’s pitch represents him or her going in for the kill. This followed by coffee, which is spent chasing up any weak-looking gazelles that appointments can be made with.
The lion is not interested in forming any useful contacts – after all, they’re only gazelles. No business relationships there.
The gazelles, on the other hand, do what they are best at – running away. They can spot networking lions a mile away and want nothing to do with them. After all, the world is full of would-be lions trying to sell, sell, sell.
When the lion fails to catch any prey, he or she inevitably prowls other groups in search of more gazelles. Only problem is, they’ve all run away too!
The networking fisherman is a far more successful creature. He spends his pitch enticing the other participants with his rather tasty bait – a special offer, suggestion for a joint venture etc.
The fish (sales) swim past and some of them take the bait. During all of this, the fisherman waits calmly for leads to come to him. He might move further down the riverbank by talking to those people he is really interested in, but there is no aggressive hunting involved. If anyone takes the bait, he is delighted – but he lets go of any fish that are not interested.
He knows that when he returns next time, the other fishermen (contacts) will recognise him. And in networking, it’s these contacts that are the real catch. After all, they can swap fish (referrals) and recommend other fishing grounds (leads) to each other. This relationship is far more profitable than catching a few fish.
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