Question.

How many people reading this article have a business plan? Ok, looks like most of your hands are up. What about a marketing plan? All right, a few hands went down, but not too many.

Now here comes the real kicker. How many people reading this article have a networking plan? That is, a strategy to help focus your efforts on meeting the “right” people, and not just wasting your time at the “wrong” events?

Hmmm…not too many there, huh?

Well, if you’re like many of the Realtors I meet, developing a rock solid networking strategy could be just the ticket you need to save time and get more sales.

Why is a strategy that important? Oh, let me count the ways.

A network strategy allows you to:

• Get more sales, by focusing your efforts in the right spots. If you specialize in downtown listings, then networking at an event held in the suburbs probably isn’t the best use of your resources.

• Sleep like a baby, knowing that the prospects you talked to are the ones most likely to buy or sell a home through you.

• Save time, while simplifying the decision-making process. Should you go to the Chamber function, the local Women’s Council meeting or the Rotary Club? The answer could be “none of the above” depending on who your ideal prospect is, and where they’re most likely to be.

What would it feel like to have a couple of “extra” hours a day, simply because your network strategy suggested you spend time in another part of your business? So instead of wasting two hours going to the wrong event, you can use that time to fill out some paperwork, write another free report for your website, or just knock off a little early from work. Now that’s what I call relief.

Here’s what you need to do to get started.

First, ask yourself the following three questions as it relates to your ideal prospects.

1. Who do you want to meet?

2. Where are they most likely to be?

3. How can you put yourself in situations where you can meet them?

Second, write the four main networking components on a piece of paper: New Contacts, Referral Group, Inner Circle and Existing Contacts – and next to each one, assign a percentage of time you’d like to dedicate to each area.

As an example, let’s look at New Contacts. These are the people you meet at service clubs, chamber events, and other functions around town. Most people I know spend all of their networking time in this one area, and don’t realize that there are three other networking components to consider.

If you’re spending 90 percent of your time meeting new contacts, then what are you going to do about the other three? Split the 10 percent among them? No wonder everyone feels so exhausted at the end of the day – they’re trying to do the impossible.

Here’s a quick description of each component.

• New contacts, as previously stated, are people you’re meeting for the first time.

• A referral group is an organization where leads are passed among the members, and each “team” can only have one person representing an industry. In this case, you would be the only Realtor in the group.

• An inner circle is composed of family, friends, past colleagues and/or business associates who you knew in the past, but might have lost touch with over time.

• Existing contacts are all the people you’ve met at various events over the past year.

As I said before, you’ll probably want to take some time away from solely making new contacts, and instead, dedicate some that time to the other components of your strategy.

And finally, pick a certain number of hours each week in which you’ll engage in networking activities. Personally, I go with 10-15 hours each week. But if you want to start out with 5 hours, then split up your time accordingly, and focus on one component each day.

For example, let’s say you want to spend 50 percent of your time getting referrals from existing contacts. Then on Monday and Tuesday you might spend and hour and a half each sending emails to people you met a few months ago and getting together for coffee. That would leave you with 2 1/2 hours to split up among the other three components for the rest of the week.

So remember, if you want to maximize your earnings while saving some valuable time, then developing a rock solid networking strategy is a great first step.

Published: September 1, 2004

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As a popular speaker and author of the resource How to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, Brian specializes in helping busy agents get more leads and close more deals - even in a market as "challenging" as this. For a free report on 2 Easy Ways to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, just email my office and we'll send it right over.