One of the biggest challenges facing anyone using NETWORKING as a marketing tool, is the ability to get across to your networking group HOW they can help you. If they do not understand what a good lead is for you and how to spot them, they will miss the opportunity to refer business your way. Since you know your field BETTER than we need to know it to help you, it is important to give us the proper tools to find that work for you.

The first step in this process is getting specific with the IMPORTANT specifics. If you say you are in the field of computer consulting, what does that mean? Do you train people on the computers? Do you write programs? Do you sell software? Do you do data entry? These are specifics about your field that will help us help you. Other specifics, like where you had your training and schooling, and the total extent of your product line are important to many people but it is info YOU can easily share with the prospects we send you. It is not the info in most cases, however, that will help us get you those prospects.

As another example, look at Life Insurance. We all know what Life Insurance is but we may not know how people are using Life Insurance as a financial vehicle. Because of the many ways policies can be written, a good lead for someone selling life insurance would be all of the following: persons who just had a baby, persons who just had a car accident, persons five years from retiring, persons with children in elementary school and persons who just bought a house.

We can focus on faces when asked if we know someone who just had a baby. We will find it more difficult to focus on the faces of persons who need Life insurance. Getting specific means breaking it down for us so we can focus on faces. Two excellent examples are as follows:

1. A person who sold telephone systems told his networkers to look for a phone cord 1" thick coming out of the wall. This meant that the telephone system was outdated and needed to be upgraded. That's real specific!

2. An office equipment representative said to look for a waste paper basket full of crumpled paper next to the copy machine. This meant that the copy machine needed to be serviced or maybe even replaced. That's real specific!

Which brings us to step two.

Give it to us in small pieces. We will remember more about how we can help you if we get your info in FREQUENT, SMALL pieces. For instance, one week you ask for persons who just had a baby. The next week you ask for persons who just had a car accident Look closely at this example. Not only is the request easy to focus on, but we are contact FREQUENTLY.

The next step in effective networking is getting referrals from your networkers of THEIR clients. According to READERS DIGEST, each one of knows 250 people. Most people read that and go "No Way". If you were getting married today, how many people could you invite to the ceremony? If you died today, how many people would attend your services?