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People Networking - Mark Lee

Networking - Discussion between Michael Beale and Mark Lee, October 2007.

Mark Lee FCA, CTA (Fellow) MMC, who founded the Tax Advice Network, explains his view of networking, where and when he networks and what he considers to be some of capabilities and beliefs of effective networkers

Listen on iTunes

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

Michael - Good morning Mark, first of all thank you so much for agreeing to take part in this call

Mark - My pleasure Michael, good morning to you.

Michael - If we can kick off, if you could just introduce yourself and give the listeners a little bit of a background about yourself and what you do.

Mark - Well I'm Mark Lee, I provide a range of services that help accountants.  They're mostly related to soft skills or tax, which I know isn't a combination you often come across. And over the years I suppose I've principally been networking with accountants, banker and lawyers, but recently  I've stopped being in practice  as a senior tax advisor and I've been networking with business people, consultants, trainers and small business owners - instead, and I'm loving it.

Michael - Ok so we're going to be talking about networking. Firstly would you like to give the listeners an idea of what networking means to you?

Mark - When in lecture on networking to accountants, I say that networking is not the same as not-working.

Michael - (Laughter)

Mark - It's not net-eating, it's no net-drinking, it's not even net-flirting, however it is a nice acronym.  Networking I think is about building relationships. When you go networking, whatever your ultimate purpose  -  whether it's finding people who are going to be interested in your services, people who might buy something from you, people who act as your advocates, people who might be able introduce you to someone who can find you a job, ultimately when you're networking, you either are or should be looking to build those relationships.

Michael - Where and when do you network?

Mark - I suppose most of my networking is done in the evenings. I've occasionally been to lunchtime networking events, and I've even tried breakfasts a couple of time, and there are facilities to go networking at breakfast time. I'm not at my best then, I've tried different places, it doesn't suit me. So most of my networking is done at, parties, functions, events, and networking occasions if you like, and generally evenings after the normal working day.

Michael - the inference from that is that most of it is done face to face. Do you do networking online as well?

Mark - well I suppose I do. I've joined up with Ecademy, which is, which I think of a business networking community for small business people and for those looking to provide services to small business people. And there's many people from large business as well. But beyond ecademy I'm also involved with a couple of- they're not really networking sites, but things like accounting web, taxation web - they're websites that provide services for specialist to communicate and coordinate together, and indeed I'm about to launch the tax advice network,  which will also be a networking community for tax advisors and accountants.

Michael - What do you actually do when you network? Two parts to this question - What do you do when you network? If you teaching somebody who was very new to networking, what are the key things you would you tell them to do?

Mark - I run courses on this…..I think that you have to focus on what you can realistically expect from any networking opportunity.

Mark - People are not normally going to choose to buy from you or even to act as your advocate to recommend you to other people because they've met you and you've thrust a business card into their hand.  

So it's very important to listen to what people are saying, think about how you could help them - and remember that people will always be more interested if you're more interested in them. And ask for the other persons business card before you thrust yours at them, there's no point going out and playing business card confetti, and distributing cards to people who have no interest in you or your service, they're not going to decide because they have a spare moment that they're going to have a look at your website, because they're got your business card and they've met you - unless they spend a little bit of time with you, and they like you, and they've got to know you al little bit - and what you really want to do is take it a little bit further and show that they can trust you.  

And one of the best ways of doing that is by finding a way that you could promise help them after the event, and then following up afterwards - that is so key - and if you can then keep your promise of whatever follow-up it is you've undertaken to provide, you're well on the way to developing that relationship, which as I say should be your foremost though when attending networking events.

Michael - Ok, imagine you're talking to your networking newbie, he's just gone to his first networking meting, what should he do as he goes up to talk to people? Should he go up and talk to people? What's the real stuff here?

Mark - Well, the real basic stuff starts before you go to a networking event, think about what it is you want to achieve, what it is you want to gain from going there, and that includes thinking how you're hoping to follow up with anybody, so if you're business provides any form of news sheet or fact card, or any form f promotional goods, or if you have any useful tick sheets,  make sure you're familiar with them so if it's relevant in conversation with someone, you can offer to send something to them afterwards that they'll find helpful. So starting beforehand - what you want to get out of it.

Mark - When you're there, yes absolutely, you can stand there and be a wall flower and hope someone comes up and talk to you. It's important to get it in the right state, if you like. Everybody else is going to be in a similar state to you, if you're going to be nervous - I like the idea of network newbie's - so think about how you're going to introduce yourself. You're going to appear much more professional if you're comfortable. And confident in the way you do this. One tip on this, think about how you want to be remembered.   

Michael - Ok, how do you introduce yourself?

Mark - Well it depends who I'm talking to. These days I say I'm the founder of the www.taxadvicenetwork.co.uk  which is a unique facility enabling accountants to access tax advisers who will advise their clients when their clients have tax issues and problems that are different from the norm and that require specialist tax advice.

That's a bit of a mouthful, so it's not always suitable, and particularly in general networking events, I might start by saying 'I help accountants' and hopefully that leads people to ask.

Michael - 'How'?

(both laugh)

Michael - OK, what skills do you have that enable you to network?

Mark - I think a genuine interest in other people. Being friendly, approachable and a genuine desire to help people. I'm not nervous about talking to strangers but I used to be. And I recognise that lots of other people are, and I suppose one of the things I enjoy doing is seeing people by themselves and going to help them out - and thinking 'I'm going to go and help them out.' saying 'Hi, I'm mark, what's you're name?'

Michael - What do you think it was that happened that enabled you to stop being frightened of talking to people?

Mark - That's a difficult one, I've been pretty outgoing since the age of fourteen, when I started entertaining at children's parties.

And I did that for twenty five years, so I never really had a problem talking to people. But in grown up events, if you like - I had some training, I think that opened my eyes to the fact that everybody's is in a similar situation. People go to networking events to meet other people.  You are very unlikely to be turned away by someone if you say 'hello, may I join you' and if you appear to be open and interested of other people. And trying it a few times, I found it to be easier than I thought it would be.

Michael - and what do you believe about yourself when you network

Mark - what do I believe about myself? I believe that I'm genuinely interested in helping other people. And that because my focus is on helping them rather than on trying to sell something, I tend to get a good reaction from the people that I talk to. Interestingly, maybe I'm fooling myself, because there’s no doubt that I follow up with other people more than they follow up with me.

Michael - Well this is what you believe, it doesn't necessarily have to be true.

Mark - Well yes that's also true.

Michael - What do you believe about the people - you're in a networking group for the first time, you don't know people there. Before you go up to talk to them - what beliefs do you have about them?

Mark - I try not to have preconceived expectations, there are some occasions when you've met one or two people and they've thrust business cards at you and you think 'oh no! It'll be a night of collecting business cards for no reasons at all’ Do they want me to just add them to my mailing lists? What do thy expect?' and if I've had one or two of those, I'll be a bit more weary about the other people I meet, or I'll end up gravitating to those people that I already I know - which may be less valuable as a networking opportunity, but more valuable in enhancing existing relationships, and there's no harm in that.

Michael - When you're networking do you have a personal mission or vision? Who is mark Lee, in a networking meeting?

Mark - Mark Lee is different, Mark Lee is unusual he’s is this guy that help accountants! Helps me realise that maybe my accountant needs helping, or that maybe I should be thinking about finding another accountant?  There aren't many people like Mark Lee around! I suppose I do like to be recognised as different, my business card has a photograph of me on it, to help people remember me as distinct from the dozen other people that they would have met on the occasion.