Ivan Misner - Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts Into Connections

Networking Like A Pro is the most comprehensive book Ive seen on networkingbar none. From beginning to end, Misner and Hilliard divulge networking concepts and strategies which will catapult you from an average networker to a master networker and empower you to achieve greatness in business and life.

JACK CANFIELD, CO-AUTHOR OF CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL AND THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

Wow! This book breaks the mold in professional networking. Its practical, powerful ideas will accelerate your success in ways you cannot imagine.

BRIAN TRACY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF BRIAN TRACY INTERNATIONAL AND AUTHOR OF MILLION DOLLAR HABITS

Done well, effective networking is the speed of trust in action. No one understands networking like Ivan Misner, so if you want to get the maximum results possible from your networking efforts, you need to read this bookperiod.

STEPHEN M. R. COVEY, AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND NUMBER-ONE WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER THE SPEED OF TRUST

Dr. Ivan Misner is to networking what Michelangelo is to the Sistine Chapel. So, absolutely everything youve ever wanted to know about networking is guaranteed to be discussed in Dr. Misners new book, Networking Like a Pro. Save yourself a lifetime of networking trial and error; read this book!

DR. TONY ALESSANDRA, AUTHOR OF THE PLATINUM RULE AND HALL-OF-FAME KEYNOTE SPEAKER

The title says it all and this book surely does not disappoint. But dont take my word for it; read Networking Like a Pro, apply the new knowledge you gain to your networking efforts, and the results you get will speak volumes.

MICHAEL E. GERBER, AUTHOR OF BEYOND THE E-MYTH

Publisher: Entrepreneur Press

Cover Design: Andrew Welyczko

Production and Composition: Eliot House Productions

2017 by Ivan Misner

All rights reserved.

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Business Products Division, Entrepreneur Media Inc.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Givers Gain and VCP Process are registered trademarks of BNI. Certified Networker and Referrals for Life are registered trademarks of the Referral Institute. Networking Like a Pro! is a registered trademark of Agito Consulting.

ebook ISBN: 978-1-61308-358-1

Contents

W riting a book is never easy, and doing it with another person is harder still. You have ideas to discuss, content to blend, and meetings to attend just to make sure you get it right. And with that said, we think we did just that... got it right.

Perfect? Probably not.

But right for the busy business professional looking to grow their business through referral marketing. We have many people to thank.

Heidi Scott Giusto and Jennifer Dorsey. An editors job can unfortunately be a thankless one, and we would like to state, for the record, that this book would not be what it is today without the energy and talents of our editorsyou all did an amazing job.

We would also like to acknowledge our publisher, Entrepreneur Press. They are a company that has proven to be a class-act operation through and through, and its the reason weve done several books with them.

Finally, we saved the best for last as we owe the biggest thanks to our families who have supported us over the entire course of creating the second edition of this book. Thank you to the Misner and Hilliard families for your love, patience, and encouragement. We hope we make you proud.

P eople sometimes ask us why we wrote this book, and the answer is simple: We wanted to give readers a blueprint on how to successfully build business through face-to-face networking. All too often, we run into business professionals who want to build a business by referrals, but for a variety of reasons, they come up short in their efforts.

Some have a unique selling proposition that isnt exactly right, and as a result, they arent attracting their ideal clients. Others dont have an ideal client and are simply trying to be everything to everyone. And still others arent sure where to network and are overwhelmed by all of their choices.

This book is for all of those folks and anyone else who wants to get more referrals from face-to-face networking.

Which brings us to another point: This book is NOT about social media marketing.

Is that a big part of what todays modern business professional is doing and should be doing? Absolutely. But is it the main focus of this book? No. There are tons of resources devoted to social media marketing, and, in an eye toward simplicity, we kept our focus on face-to-face networking (although we do briefly address social media).

We hope that while reading this resource you do two things:

Number 1: Select two or three ideas that you like and implement them within the next three days. All too often, we see people read books, listen to presentations, and then do nothing!

We want this book to inspire action. One of the topics we discuss regularly is if you want to get more, you have to be more first. This means that if you want to get more business and get more clients, then you have to be the type of business that attracts those people.

This means you have to be a good networker. You need to be a connector and offer valuable resources to others. You must be the type of person who others know, like, and trust. But you cant be any of these things if you fail to act, so read, learn, and then implement a few of our suggestions quickly. You wont regret that you did.

Number 2: Hold onto this book, and reference it throughout the years. Call us old-fashioned, but in todays digital age where everything is online, we hope this book stays in your physical library as a reference tool for years to come.

So, thats it.

We hope you enjoy the materialwe certainly enjoyed putting it together.

And most importantly, we hope it gives you the tools and resources to go out and network like a pro!

As business professionals, we can tell you from personal experience how effective referral networking has been in the success of our own businesses. After reading this book, you will understand how it works and how it can be effective in your own business, but lets start by addressing some of the myths and misconceptions that people hit us with from time to time.

I tried networking. It didnt work.

Whats different about this?

Its a common misconception that simply attending a networking event will bring you new business right away. It wont. Neither will just reading this book; theres no silver bullet in these pages.

Networking is simple, but its not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it, and do it well. But not everyone does. Thats because its a skill, like cooking and golf and carpentry, that takes knowledge, practice, commitment, and effort to learn and apply consistently. You cant just go out to the golf course, buy a club and a ball, whack the ball around a bit, and think youve played a round of golf. Neither can you walk unprepared into a gathering of potential networking contacts and suddenly become a competent networkerno matter how gregarious and sociable you are or how many books on networking youve read.