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People Networking - Lesley Morrissey

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Lesley Morrissey, November 2007.

Lesley Morrisey, who runs a professional writing practice discusses what networking means to her, where and when she networks and what she considers to be some of capabilities and beliefs of effective networkers.

Listen on iTunes

http://www.ppimk.com/nlp-podcast/lesley.mp3 

Michael : Good morning Lesley 

Lesley : Good morning Michael  

Michael : Firstly can you introduce yourself and give our listeners some background about yourself and what you do. 

Lesley : I tell people that I am an expert in read-ability which usually throws them. I’m actually a professional copywriter and also a non-fiction editor and I’ve written all my life so my career sort of appeared out of doing all of that. And I’ve learned an awful lot about how people read as well as what people read, which is why I say that I’m an expert in read-ability because it’s not just about the words it’s about how the words are presented to the reader. You can write an absolutely killer copy, but find that the reader can’t take the information on board purely and simply because the way in which the copy is presented makes it very difficult to read.  

Michael : We’re going to be talking about networking – so would you let me know what networking means to you? 

Lesley : I didn’t used to think that I was very good at networking, I didn’t like going to things like Chamber of Commerce meetings and milling about. And coming away wondering why I’d been.

I was a member of Ecademy back in 2003, but I didn’t really use it, I didn’t really get it properly - I had about 24 contacts, and at the time I was as director of a company that was a consultancy and human resources training,  – and I decided to jump ship, I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do, and I was spending a lot of time in the office, not doing training, not doing coaching, not doing what I like to do – and I decided to go back to writing, at which point I though ‘OK', I need an income. I’d not got any money out of the company that I was working for, so I’d better get stuck in and find some people to work for.’

I decided that Ecademy might be the route into doing that because I like writing and it meant that I could just sit in front of the computer and type away happily – and I worked quite hard at developing my contacts on Ecademy, and I did get that it wasn’t just a numbers game, it’s partly just a numbers game, but having lots of people in your network is not the answer because if they don’t really know you very well there’s not much point. 

So I started going to the London meetings because I’m in a situation where I’m an hour – hour and a half journey into London, and that’s great. And I started to meet people and I started building relationships. Since I restarted my company in 2005 I have never done any sales, it’s all come to me through networking. 

Michael : So talking about networking, where and when do you  it?  

Lesley : I did some of it online. But only in certain places, I’m a member of some online networks, liked LinkedIn, and Bing, or Crossing, or whatever it’s called. And unfortunately Facebook, which I don’t find useful as a business tool, but people keep telling me to persevere.

I do find Ecademy is great, because it suits my style, it is to do with relationships, with getting to know people and certainly since last year when I upgraded my membership to the Black Star level that has made a huge difference, because the way in which people network in Black Star, people actually make the effort to get to know you. Not to sell themselves to you, but to get to know you. And I think that’s the secret, because I’m doing that outside of E-cademy as well with my local network, because I used to go to breakfast meetings every week, – but it is to do with understanding somebody else, what they do, what they’ve go to offer, how they operate, what it’s like working with them.

And then you say, ‘Well, now I can refer you, because I actually believe in what you’ve got.’ And I think people buy people as much as they buy what you do.  

Michael : Lets look at what you actually do when you’re networking. You’re going into a meeting, maybe where you don’t know anybody, what do you actually do there?  

Lesley : It’s rare that I go to a meeting where I don’t already know anybody. I’ve usually been invited by somebody that I already know. I tend to talk to whoever I’m nearest to, because I suppose I’m reasonably outgoing, and I’m quite happy to talk to people – Sometimes they might find it hard to shut me up actually (Laughter),  I ask them what they do and I ask them what sort of business they’re looking for, and what is their ideal customer, because if they don’t know that, it’s a good exercise for them to clarify that, in order to get the right business.  

So I get into it with the helping of the people aspect, and if they come back and bring business to me that’s great, but the thing is when you help other people, it’s not so much that they’re obliged to repay the favour, but they actually want to because they feel good about you. Networking isn’t about going out and selling, and anybody that comes along and tries to hard-pitch you, is really not going to get very far in a networking environment. 

Michael : If you were to teach a newbie at networking, what would you do? What are the key points that you would get them to look out for? 

Lesley : Firstly they need to get their business card right, I would say that because I’m in the right business! The business card needs to have on it somewhere, what you do. Because just having your name and your company name is not always enough for people to remember, and not everybody writes on the back of the business card.

I use the back of my business card, and it has a brief outline of what I actually do. There’s plenty of space around it to write what date it was that I gave it to you, or where you met me or whatever, but it’s really important when you’ve been to a networking meeting to remember, that there might have been a hundred people there or even two hundred people there, but if you’ve got seven or eight cards, you can’t always remember who it is that gave you each one, unless you have a bit of an idea about what the company did, and that should be beyond obvious from the card.  

Michael : What else would you say is absolutely essential?

Lesley : I think you have to be interested in other people. And if you go along thinking ‘who can I sell my services to’ you’re going to fail. I think you really need to go in there thinking ‘who can I get to know who could be really interesting and I might be able to help?’ and real networking is about connecting people. It’s not just about going and selling what you do, because people are looking for relationships, not yet another product in whatever field you are – and I go to several different meetings regularly, and there are people who do the same thing in different groups, but there are some that I really am happy to work with, and there are some that I like, but I don’t have any allegiance to whatsoever.  

Michael : And the difference between them? What do you think makes the difference between them? 

Lesley : Usually it’s the person. And their approach to it, and the way they dress their business I suppose, but also their willingness to help other people. For instance, I have been in three groups, all of which have had an independent financial advisor in the group. All of whom I liked, but it was the one who said ‘I can see you’ve got a problem, let me come and talk to you, let me see what I can do to help you.’ And I’m going ‘No you won’t be able to help me because I’ve got this problem.’ And he’s coming along and saying ‘leave it with me.’ Went away, rang me up and said ‘Ok, it’s sorted’ and I went ‘You’re joking!’  

And he just sorted everything out for me, he made it terribly easy for me. The paperwork came through, I didn’t have to try and understand it, he explained it all to me, told me where to sign. He told me what I was signing for, he made sure I didn’t fall down any holes. And I was just blown over by him. So of course I referred some people to him because I was really impressed with what he did for me. 

Michael : Let’s go back to yourself. What skill or abilities do you think you have that enable you to network well?  

Lesley : I talk to people fairly easily, so I’m not going to stand by the door scared to open my mouth, but also, I think, I am interested in other people, and I like to find out what they do – and I’m always asking questions, so I suppose that that’s a good start, because if in doubt ask a question, and then it starts the other person talking and then you don’t have to talk.  

Michael : How did you learn to be good at this?  

Lesley : I was trained as a coach.  

Michael: Ah! 

Lesley : Sorry. (Laughter) 

Michael : What bits of learning to be a coach do you think have helped you with your networking? 

Lesley : I started coaching informally, because of being a trainer, and then you find that there are members of your training group that want to shanghai you and corner you, and ask you for more information, and more time, it just sort of came from there. And then I did, a diploma in performance coaching, and I actually learned to coach people who have specific career issues. 

What we were taught to do first – a lot of it is to do with attitude, and that sort of resonated with me because I have a belief that  managing your attitude is the answer to most stuff. Which might be a bit sweeping, but actually it does make a huge difference, and if you know how to manage your attitude, then you’re halfway to success – because you can get yourself from being ‘Oh, I don’t think this is going to work…’ to ‘I know it’s going to work, I just need to work out how.’ And that’s a key part of anything in business, you have to work out how to be focused on success and not failure. Because if you’re focused on failure, then that’s when you’re looking and that’s where you’re going.  

Michael : OK well that leads to the next question. What do you believe about yourself when you network?  

Lesley : I know that what I do I’m good at, and I know that I’m professional. I know that I have things that other people don’t know, and I’m more than happy to tell them that. Sometimes it’s hard for them to stop me telling them, because I get on my soapbox and I go off on one.  

Things like – I will look at the back of peoples business cards, and I will say ‘do you know how much marketing space you’re wasting here?’ and I will say ‘if you write in teeny-weeny writing in white letters on a dark blue background people are going to find it really hard to read’ and then explain to them why. I think part of getting people onboard is that if they understand why such a thing is not working, then they’re more inclined to say ‘oh ok then, that can be changed.’ If you just tell them it’s wrong, there’s a resistance there. So I share my knowledge, I don’t come up to them and say ‘Are you going to pay me to do that?’ I just share my knowledge, because that’s what it’s all about. And I send to people The Goldfish Report, which is all about read-ability. 

Michael : Moving from yourself to other people, do you have any beliefs there about the people that you’re networking with? 

Lesley : I’ve got an open mind. They’re all there for various reasons. I don’t necessarily think that they’re all there for the same reason. Some are there to sell. I like connecting people, so I listen to people who might not have any need for, but I might connect them with somebody else when I think ‘oh actually I know somebody you should talk to.’ It’s a bit like one of the things that you get when somebody joins the Black Star on Ecademy as new members, they’ll say ‘you should talk to these people because they might have useful contacts for you.’ 

Michael : Do you have a personal mission when you’re doing this? Who are you when you’re networking? 

Lesley : Me! I just go as me, and I think you need to go into any networking meeting with some sort of focus. 

Michael : That leads to a question – What actually are you trying to achieve when you network? 

Lesley : Depends on the meeting. When I go to a big meeting with a couple of hundred people there, and I already know people – I will try and say Hi to the people that I know, but often I’ll have met people online, and not offline, so my focus will be on trying to put names and faces together, and actually meet the people in face-to-face, that I’ve not met before and I may have connected with online.

If I’m going to a regular meeting, one that everybody meets once a week, I probably know most of them. There’s still the odd one that I’ve never sat down and had a one-to-one with, and I think one-to-ones do make a big difference to your connections. So I probably aim to have a chat with one of them after a meeting, if that’s possible. I’m always looking to see who can I connect with who. I went to a Wealth Dynamics weekend, maybe a year -  a bit more than a year ago and I spent the whole time running about going ‘you need to talk to so-and-so! And I’ve just seen something on this wall, and that’s just what you do! So can you just hang around here and I’ll just try and find this person!” and it was fun. People, some of them, do come back to you later to say ‘thank you for connecting me with this person, that was really great, whatever I can do to help you just ask.’ So when you need to ask you can. 

Michael : Going back to one-to-one's, what is a one-to-one to you?  

Lesley : A one-to-one is a period of time where two people sit together and find out about each other and each others business’s, and I say that deliberately, it’s not just about the business, it’s about the sits behind it as well. And once you’ve got to know somebody, it’s better that you’re able to understand what they do, and you get to know them, and you get a feel of who they are and what their beliefs and values are, and that’s when you start saying ‘actually I’d quite like to do business with that person’ or ‘that’s somebody that I would feel comfortable recommending to anybody else in my network.’

Michael : Before I ask for you to give your contact details, is there a last point that you’d like to let our listeners know, about what you think is important about networking. Maybe something that we’ve missed, or that we haven’t really talked about.  

Lesley : I think it is to have focus. It is to go into a meeting knowing what you would like to get out of it. As long as that’s not half a grand’s worth of sales, because that’s not going to happen. I do think also that people are interested in people who are interested in them and that’s the key to it all. If you go in with an open mind, wanting to find out about other people, your relationships will start to develop. And business relationships that work are based on liking and respecting each other. 

Michael : Excellent. If you could give your contact details. 

Lesley : Yes, it’s Inside News. We’re a professional copywriting practice and we do websites brochures, articles, press releases, anything that’s got words in it really. Our contact details are phone – 01245473296 and the email is info@insidenews.co.uk. And the website is the same, it’s www.insidenews.co.uk  

Michael : Thank you very much indeed. 

Lesley : It’s a pleasure Michael.