As a marketing expert I am regularly heralding the benefits of networking and its importance as a marketing technique. However, over the past few months I have spoken to a number of business owners who are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the networking scene in Central Scotland and in particular Edinburgh and Glasgow. The first thing you would have to say is that judging by the number of networking groups in these two cities you would think it was the only place in Scotland that was worth networking in. Why aren’t there more groups in the surrounding towns and cities?
One of the reasons I believe that the quality of networking is so awful Central Scotlandis all to do with the premise on which the network is set up on. Break away groups, companies trying to make a quick buck not to mention those who simply use it as a sales platform for their own business or ego. The result is a badly run pointless network that has no direction, format or results.
If I receive one more email about a new network or networking group that offers an event with a twist or difference I’ll scream because in fact I’ve yet to find many, if any, that actually do. What tends to happen is that you meet the same faces just at different networks. The majority of networking groups put little thought in to the format of the meeting, the quality of contacts or member benefits. All they do is concentrate on getting money out of business owners and up selling as many ‘advertising, sponsorship or marketing’ opportunities as they can to make money.
Consequently is it any surprise that successful, established business owners are rarely seen out networking? We need a revolution which can be started by us being honest with ourselves in terms of how much business we actually achieve from networking and from which groups. We need to look at the type of people and businesses we meet and demand more from our networking organisers.
What do you think? Am I completely wrong? What networks have you found work?
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Hi Ruth
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with you more on most points here. Edinburgh in particular is totally saturated. Come on who in their right minds thinks that Edinburgh can sustain as many network groups as it has. And anyone coming onto the scene is only diluting it further. Any funnily enough networking is supposed to be about building relationships and working together - wish that was the case with all these groups. Some do work together very well and funnily enough they do this by talking to one another and finding ways to provide a wide range of services to businesses not compete to get people signed up. But most of the 'breakaway' groups don't talk to anyone else at all hence we have clashes of meetings - in fact you cold go to one or two venues in both Glasgow or Edinburgh any day of the week and be pretty sure to stumble across some network meeting or other.
Now to why is there very little networking out with the major cities. Here are my thoughts and this is going to be a bit hurtful.
a) There are certain people outwith the cities who habitually go networking - in fact you can almost guarantee who will be a meetings in certain areas - these people always seek out the freebies by the way and never commit and do you want to do business with them? Doubt it and that is why bigger business doesn't bother - why should they?
b) Scotland is also very parochial in its' outlook. Travelling 20 miles is for many people just too much trouble.
c) There are many people outwith the major cities who are self employed but with a business that does not benefit from networking. For example hospitality and tourism.
d) Most people only see networking as a selling opportunity not a business relationship opportunity. Most people only see networking as being of value in the business 2 business sector.
Now how do you get the bigger companies to come out - answer that one and you will make a million!
Cheers
Why is networking awful in Central Scotland?
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was having that very conversation with a designer friend the other day.
I can't put my finger on it exactly, and I certainly don't have all the answers, but I was networking in London last year and found it SO much more refreshing. I observed that people seemed more open and relaxed and much more comfortable with networking. They were simply better at the art of networking.
In Scotland, over the past 5 years, I've experienced a mixture of the following at different groups.
1. People who are intent on offloading as many business cards as possible to anyone and everyone with a scattergun approach, which is very offputting and rarely works.
2. People who just bore you about themselves and don't ask any questions, let alone good, open questions.
3. People who are unaware of how to 'politely' work the room.
4. People who just come to meet their pals and chat, but don't actually network!
4. More defensiveness, as though there is almost some unspoken collective sense that there is somehow not enough work to go around up here, so maybe it's better not to connect certain people.
Since networking is about forming mutually beneficial relationships, not cornering someone over a coffee to make a quick sale, the success of any networking event is surely down to the networking savvy of the individuals attending, and less about good speakers (though I also enjoy that), 60 second pitches, or bacon butties.
The good news is people CAN learn to become better networkers.
The networking groups that consistently tackle this apparent 'skills gap' (let's face it, most of us don't become confident, adept networkers overnight!) with their members WILL really be doing something different and worthwhile.
In the meantime, I reckon all networking groups should give their new members a copy of 'The Jelly Effect: How to make your communication stick' by Andy Bounds. That'd be a very good start!
Happy Networking!
What fantastic comments. I've just found that the Athena networking group have been discussing my article on this in their linked in group and one comment was that poor networking is down to the individual and they have to take responsibility. I agree but I think the networking organisers have to create the right environment.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the right environment, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteIt's always going to be different strokes for different folks. And some formats do suit different kinds of businesses/people better than others. I'm not sure any network will please all of their members all of the time.
If your business is B2B, and you know who you are looking for (and you should, otherwise you're just socialising!)it can be heavy going to wade through a room of B2C business owners looking to sell their products.
In my fantasy ideal networking event, you would walk in, immediately get access to a list of who's there and what they do (not just company name which doesn't always tell you much), and have some way of indicating that you'd like to talk to them at some point during the course of the event. Hmm, maybe there's a technological solution that could help?
Anything that helps the targeting process would be good. I love a good chinwag as much as the next person but I know that some people are much more likely to be useful contacts for me than others simply because of what I do, what they do and therefore the types of contacts/customers both parties are likely to know.
So, if networking groups could do anything to improve 'the environment' or 'the process' of networking, it would be any measures that could help members target contacts so they really are maximising their time at the event.
Because as fascinating and wonderful to talk to as some people are, you can usually tell quite quickly whether they will ever be a useful contact for you. And isn't that the point?
I will declare my interest straight away, since I'm currently president of Scottish Women in Business (SWIB), a Glasgow-based networking group. You'd expect me to say that I think it doesn't fall into all of the networking traps quite so often, and you'd be right - that's what I do say. One reason I am on the committee is precisely because it is a relationship-based, business network, where people make good quality connections and genuinely do find business opportunities.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I think we're a wee bit different:
* We think about and plan every event - there's no standard format, we have a mix of speakers, networking events and development events. We put a lot of effort into it - in fact, it's what we spend the bulk of our committee meetings discussing.
* We try to attract a range of women to the events (and membership), from most sectors of business. We're not so good at attracting larger corproates (yet) or public sector, but we're working on it.
* We do offer member benefits (membership of local chamber, for example).
* It's not a networking business. No-one is making any money from it. We're all volunteers. That has its challenges but it does mean we're not driven by growth for financial gain, and our membership fees are low. We do look for steady growth, not least because that adds to the pool of opportunities for our members.
* Finally, there are networking groups all over Scotland. OK, so they are businesswomen's networks so may have limited appeal to the menfolk (who by the way can and do come to SWIB events, albeit infrequently). There are 11 networks under the banner of the Association of Scottish Businesswome. I won't remember them all, but Falkir/Stirling is the most recent, plus Fife, Dundee, Moray, Ayrshire, Perth and Aberdeen. You can find out more at http://www.asb-scotland.org/member-clubs.cfm (where there's also a link to SWIB).
I'm a recent arrival from the States and do find networking here to be very different. Networking groups here seem to be heavily slanted towards the self-employed and there aren't as many field-specific groups. I disagree with one of the posts above. I think an educational component is important especially if it includes interactive activities.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have come to realise from the comments here and on the linkedin groups that have been discussing this that those running the networking groups have a different perspective from those attending them. I've had a number of people say to me "I totally agreed with your blog/ article but I didn't want to post a comment in case it upset someone."
ReplyDeleteMy main point is not that people don't know how to network, which is true in many cases, but that there are few, if any real differences between all the networking groups available.
The challenge - for someone to come up with a new networking format/ concept for the new decade.
The problem with networking event is that everybody is there to sell something and they all "believe" in it because its the latest fad.
ReplyDeleteNetworking works but its got to be the right sort and going to a networking event is not really the place to grow your business, unless your running the event....