I’ve been nosing around some of the free social websites for network marketers. (We all know I run the iGaggle /Network Marketing Central (paid) network.)
A social site wants to be a place for people to meet each other, discuss things they have in common, help each other solve problems, learn new things, etc. People interested in music flooded MySpace, lots of techie groups are in FaceBook, and of course, we have (free) social sites for network marketers now too.
When networkers from different companies meet online, what do they talk about?
Here’s from the home page of one I visited just now:
Come Join My XYZ Team and Get Paid Daily!!
Big Things Are Happening At ABC Direct Get In While The Getting Is Good!!!
Online Business Opportunity. And It’s FREE.
If you want to chat about a key position on our team…
Plus many thinly veiled attempts at conversation designed to get you to look at their business.
Is this why people come to a social site with other networkers? Except for the recruiters, is anyone having any fun with this kind of conversation? Am I wrong here?
(NOTE: I am grateful that my blog RSS feed is there. I’m also happy the gent created this site, which is why I am linking to it.)
Skit: Put 100 networkers in a room, all from different companies.
Talk of selling each other the business or product is off limits. (Once the usual, “What do you do?” questions are asked and answered, unless someone IS really interested, any talk about selling your NM business, company, products is prohibited. Including fake conversation starters, “Boy I really am living well now…”)
So, what do you talk about?
1. Does anything other than selling each other hold us together?
2. If you were starting a talking/chat group in the above scenario, what would your topic be and who would you want to be part of it?
Use the comments below…
I just had this type of scenario take place at my neighbor’s house yesterday. She was having a Southern Living at Home party and I had to leave early to get to yoga. We had a nice converstaion about how we both enjoy having a home-based business and not having to juggle the work/family life issues that arise in corporate America. The fact that we are both moms and both entrepeneurs gave us a lot to talk about and neither of us was trying to recruit the other. Hopefully, some of the other moms were listening, though!
Michele
There is a lot of opportunity to talk about goals, business advice, family issues, etc… The key is to get past the desire to SELL SELL SELL. There are a few networking sites where this works well and many where it still needs to be reined in a bit.
Have been meeting crossline with people in same MLM company. We share professionally – encouragement, knowledge of products / events and doing booths together. Have gotten together for environmental project (picking up trash on two miles of highway)and potluck afterwards. Friendships for life in the making!
Nicole, so what specifically, would you start a talk group on?
Hi! Herb Oliver here
To me networking means giving vs getting…
My favorite question I love to use I learned from my good frind Bob Burg at Burg.com is “How would I know if I came across someone who could use your product? Nobody in 35 years of business networking has ever asked me that one. How about you? It always gains a friend. Bob in my opinion is the Guru’s Guru on networking. Checkout his “Endless Referrals” best selling book.
To your skill sets and success….Mentor Dr
Isn’t this a deadly distraction? I would just avoid something like this but for the sake of being in a room of over 100 networkers, I would do it for fun.
Since talking about your business whether it’s product-related or becoming a distributor are off limits, you can always call out their names on something unrelated to your business.
I don’t know if any of you love cooking, computers, or football. In my case, those are the subject topics I’ll use instead. Call all the people in the room that uses a Mac, an iPod, wear a size 11 shoe, or loves to carve their contact information on rocks.
At the conclusion of the get together, you can always exchange contact information.
My two cents…
Sidney
http://www.e-dental-plus.com
Since we’ve been clearly instructed to leave our agendas at home, we are free simply to make new friends. Remember how we did that before we had a business on the tip of our minds, hearts, and tongues?
We’ll learn about others’ history and about their families, hobbies, and philosophical/spiritual approaches to the world — what sings to them and how they sing out to others…outside their/our business niches. Even though we are passionate about our products and companies, we can still make wonderful connections based on sharing other life experiences, concerns, deep thoughts, and humor. Aah, yes, always humor, thank you. Sounds like a good party.
Dianne
Ilka and I are network marketer’s that met online (@ NMC) here’s an example of what we talked about…
Hi Vicky,
Congratulations on getting ‘Runner-Up’! That’s wonderful!
By the way, I went through your profile and clicked on your links and they took me away from your profile. You may want to re-do them and have them open in a new window. (You have that option.) People might want to return and read more about you.
Have a wonderful day!
Ilka ;o)
Vicky
Sep 11th, 2007 a 02:01 pm
Thank you Ilka I appreciate your thoughtfulness and ideas.
Would you mind telling me exactly how I re-do my links so they open in a new window so people can return to my profile to read more… I’m not sure how to do that. But I love your suggestion.
Success Always,
Vicky
Ilka
Sep 11th, 2007 a 02:28 pm
Hi Vicky,
You’re very welcome ;o)
…And here is how you change your links so they open in a new window.
Log in to your iGaggle account and click on “My Profile” and then on “Edit Profile”.
Click “Edit” on the section you want to edit and highlight the link you would like to edit.
Click on the “Insert/edit Link” icon (it’s the one right next to the U)
A little Pop Up will pop up. Select “Open link in a new window” from “Target”.
Click “Update”….and you’re all set.
Repeat this with all your links.
Let me know if you run in to problems and I’ll be here to help ;o)
Cheers,
Ilka ;o)
Vicky
Sep 12th, 2007 a 04:05 pm
I really appreciate your excellent suggestions and great coaching. Thanks to your step-by-step instructions my links take you back to my NMC profile… which I know will help.
Congratulations to you for winning honorable mention.
It’s wonderful to be part of Kim’s NMC community helping each other to succeed, like you did for me. Thanks again.
Success in your business online & off,
Vicky Taylor/MLM Blog
http://vickytaylor.blogspot.com
I was going to say exactly what Herb Oliver said with Bob Burg’s “Endless Referrals” in mind. Networking with other networkers is great! They know people and we know people so we can help each other.
Marti the Health Designer
Gosh, there’s so many other things to talk about… I’d want to find out if people love animals like I do, if they work in rescue like I do. Do they golf, where have they played? Where have they traveled and what was that like? Do they like computers? Cars? My company is a big part of my life, but it’s not all I am. There is so much to know about other people. Knowing they are networkers tells me we have one thing in common, and I would wonder what else we would have in common. Dianne, you sound like a fun person to talk to! I love to exchange jokes and kid around!
Edie Elting
In a room full of networkers, I would hope to get down to more of a conversation about how we can be better at what we do.
I recently went to a meetup meeting that was just for network marketers. I was really disappointed that even though we were all give the rules of our 3 minute presentation about our product or service and were NOT to talk about the business or recruiting talk. That several people including the very first one that got up to speak flat out broke the rules and focused on the recruiting message. The sad part is the organizer didn’t say something after the first person did it.
On the other hand, I stuck directly to the rules and got money before I left from people who wanted not just a sample, but enough to really try my product. And several more people that wanted a sample.
Kim
Here’s some of my experiences here on NMC.
I meet Carol a dog lover. Dogs and our kids started our friendship. Carol did a pencil sketch of my old dag Tara.
Suzanne is another friend and dog lover. Dogs brought us together and now we call just to chat. Sometimes about network marketing sometimes to have girl talk.
Venetta lives in Greece so I haven’t had a chance to speak with her. We have lots of email chats and our goal is to make so much money with our businesses that we can some day sit together and have coffee and chat.
I can’t name every person I’ve been in contact with just because of shared love of pets. This is like a magnet for pet lovers to connect.
Ilka and I have often contact because we are on so many calls together. I feel like we know each other because I hear her voice so often.
I enjoy meeting people here, hearing their story about why they do network marketing, why the product, how they market it…
Get the message? It’s about being real and looking for the real people. Anyone out there love Log Cabins, camping and stock car races?
Robin
I am still wondering why Network Marketers are so ??? I don’t know what word to use … shall I risk using the word paranoid?
Almost all professions I know of have support, chat, mixers or whatever you want to call them groups. When they get together they talk about every day things, hobbies, interests, etc., etc. Do they try to drum up business from one another. I think in other professions people exchange business cards and refer people to their friends. For example, doctors. A pathologist may send a client to a ‘friend’ cardiologist, etc., etc. I’m reminded of one of Kim’s blogs … why are we NMers so desperate or fearful of what others will think.
Herb Oliver and Marti mention Bob Burg’s “Endless Referrals.” I have read it, too, and it is an excellent example of how every profession and every person on the planet ‘networks’ in some shape, form or fashion.
I love vickyt’s dialogue with Ilka. Ilka is a friend of mine as well and our dialogue, although a little different, she’s from Germany and lives in the U.S. and I’m from the U.S. and live in Greece, is pretty much personal conversation.
And as Robin said, she and I are friends and exchange Emails frequently on any number of issues and our businesses are very different.
I enjoy this community and enjoy being able to talk about NM in general without the fear of being ‘puked’ on. I live with a pukie or super puke as I fondly refer to him so I can’t talk much about it at home. I love this business madly and love being able to exchange ideas and thoughts with others who love it as well.
I think it’s about time that we NMers start acting like Network Marketing is just a normal business and what we respectively do for a living, after all, isn’t it?
Venetta
http://www.venetta.myflpbiz.com
http://www.pipelineparable.com/pb/vstathis
Well, Kim, since you asked. One of my favorite things to do is to take books like The Conversation Piece and pick a question at random and use that as a conversation starter.
Some of my favorite questions have been…
“If you could give anyone you know, excluding family, a blue ribbon who would it be?”
and
“If you could see 25 years into the future, what one thing would you be most interested in seeing how it has changed?”
The idea with these questions is to get people talking and get to know each other better. I also use these questions to post in bulletins rather than just saying hello or Hope you have a great weekend blinky graphics. It’s a way to open up conversations.
I love this place…NMC that is. Isn’t that what it all should be about. Helping each other grow and lending a helping hand rather than the superficial “friendships” of other networks. Aren’t we all in the same business at the end and could learn from each other’s experiences, trials and tribulations… and…create long lasting and true friendships at the same time?
I have made some very dear friends here, Robin, Michele, Venetta, Vicky, Herb, Suzanne, just to name a few. And I hope to add many more in the coming months and years.
As Venetta mentioned we don’t always ‘talk shop’. There are other things to talk about. Like pets and kids and retiring in Europe ;o)
Come join us and be part of it!
I’ve met a lot of people here who have come to me for coaching and I’ve helped them get on the road to success and now they call just to chat.
One lady in particular is now growing her business and in better health and calls quite often to update me on how she is doing, trips she’s taken, etc… Sometimes we spend over an hour just chatting.
I have a gentleman who calls often just to say HEY and how are you? If he doesn’t hear from me for a few weeks, he calls just to make sure I’m ok.
We’ve become friends. NO – they have not joined my company, but that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about helping people and making new friends.
I’ve met quite a few people on myspace who email often to just say Hello and how are you. We have things in common (like NASCAR) and chat about that. Some have asked what I do and some have joined my business, but not all.
Just like I always say – create relationships with no agenda. The right ones will raise thier hand and ask what you do and the others will hopefully at least be your friend.
The best of both worlds.
The worst that can happen is you have a whole lot of new friends. That’s not too bad. It’s always nice to have more people to talk to.
Roxanne Green
I just started playing around with some wording on friend requests (both to and from others). I have started using the following (feel free to use it and maybe we can motivate other sites to be more about building relationships).
I would like to add you as a friend. However, before I do; may I be sure that my request for a friendship will not be misunderstood? I am hoping that you will not send me messages about your business or place ads for your business in my comments section. Can I be sure that you do, in fact, truly want to get to know me and become friends with the benefit that IF I become interested in your business or know someone that might be, THEN I will come to you? In exchange, I will agree to treat you as I expect to be treated. That’s how I define friends and if you can agree, then I’d be happy to have you as a friend!