In a previous post, we discussed What You Can Learn from Your Network; this post is about What You Can Teach Your Network.
Why would you teach your social network or the people that you see face-to-face? Simple, so they can properly refer you, listen for opportunities that would help you, work to promote and connect you.
Ask yourself; do the people that you interact with know how to do these things for you? If not, they need to be taught. Do the people closest to you; your family and friends, know how to do these things for you? If not, they need to be taught too.
Here are a few suggestions:
Teach Them to Listen for You: In each industry, keywords or certain phrases are like red flags. In other words, if certain keywords or phrases for your industry were overheard during a dinner conversation , your ears would perk up and you would listen more closely, As an example, a Realtor may want you to listen for companies hiring new workers or for people talking about moving, relocating for work or investment properties. Teach your network to listen for keywords, phrases or opportunities for your business.
Teach Them to Connect You: Make sure you have made the connections within your network that makes sense for you and for your network. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This doesn’t mean you have to connect with everyone on every social platform, but connect how it makes the most sense. Also teach your network how to connect you to others, both virtually and in person. Do you need to meet PR professionals for your business? If so, teach your network to connect you with PR people. By the way, I can connect you to one of the best in the business; just ask. 
Teach Them to Refer You: Does your network refer business to you? How about family and friends; do they refer you? If not, it is your responsibility to teach them how to refer you. Teach them what is a good referral for you. Whether it is for business or personal, teach them what you need and how to refer you. Make sure that your network knows exactly what you do, don’t assume that they do, and then teach them how to refer you. If your network, your family and friends are not referring you….it is because you have not taught them how to refer you.
Chances are your network wants to learn how they can help you. How many times has someone asked you, “what can I do to help you?” Have an answer ready; teach them what you need for your business or your personal life. Teach your network and ask them how you can help them. This is another opportunity for teaching; if they don’t have an answer, teach them how to teach others!
Teaching your network, virtually and face-to-face can be rewarding; but remember, if I don’t know what you need, I can’t help you! Those are my thoughts; what do you say?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
John, what great keys about teaching your network how to give you referrals. Another way to teach them is to model it for them, by asking, “How would I ever recognize if someone I was speaking to was a perfect prospect for you?” (From Bob Burg the Go giver.) It is SUCH a great feeling when we connect people that it can’t help but reproduce in our own lives and businesses.
James Malincheck often tells speakers that part of our job is to teach people who can hire us where they can find the money to pay us! That is pretty clever as well.
Keep up the great blogging.
I love the model it for them example Gina! Very good way to teach!! Thank you!
Hey John,
Once again, you never cease to amaze me with great business content. Or any content for that matter! This is truly important, because everybody preaches that referrals are the way to go, but nobody really rolls up their sleeves and teaches you how to do it effectively. So many people have meetings with potential strategic partners, like each other, and say they’ll refer, but no keywords or system is taught in order to have their Spidey sense go off when there is potential.
For my business, after a partner meeting, on top of the great advice you give above, I actually offer to be their sales trainer and sales arm:
Sales Trainer: I schedule a time to meet with their sales team, give them great sales advice to pump them up (to add value), and show them how to suggest/upsell my services. And if there are incentives I can give, even better!
Sales Arm: I’d actually make time to sit in their office, go through their database, and call clients on behalf of their company. It’d be a great way to touch on customers, make sure they’re happy, keep lines of communication open, clients will appreciate it, and mine for gold.
Way to go, John!
Hey, John – Before, I begin, I’d just like to say that your writing is getting better (over all post presentation, headlines, structure, etc.) good job man. Really great to see you make such progress.
I love the ideas presented in this post. It’s amazing how we often times forget that people AREN’T mind readers. We receive not because we ask not. I think it’s very important that you really do show your network how to best assist you. If not, then you’ll just have a bunch of associates with nothing valuable to offer each other.
Good job again man. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much Rod for the comments on my blog and writing; that means a lot coming from you!! I also appreciate your comments and insight on the post itself. We do need to teach our network; until they can read our minds! Thanks again!
Oh this is such a great post John. Thank you for making us aware of issue. It’s so true. In fact, now that you’ve made us aware, we can be intentional about ‘teaching’ others the items you mention above. I cannot tell you how many times someone has asked me how they can help and I say thank you, but don’t offer any tangible suggestions or tasks. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t’ taken a minute to sit down and think about it myself. I will definitely do that within the next few days. Thank you for equipping me with information to take action; I’ll keep you posted on what I discover.
I am loving your content John. Please, keep up the great work.