This is something you don’t hear very often but… If you attend networking meetings to build your business, you’re wasting a lot of your time and your money.

Yes, networking to build your business through relationships is highly effective. As a 6-figure business building coach, I recommend this as one of your marketing tactics. But contrary to popular belief, attending more meetings to make more sales is actually holding you and your business back. Why?

Let’s look at some recent sales statistics. The average networker (which is over 90% of all people who utilize networking as part of their marketing) receives a sale or a referral for approximately 1 meeting out of 10. That same networker attends two meetings per week. That means you receive a sale or a referral every five weeks. If you are like most entrepreneurs, you could starve those five weeks waiting for that sale! But what is the standard advice given in this situation: just go to more meetings.

Yet you can actually attend less meetings, not more, and attract new clients. How? By learning how to market. This is where I see entrepreneurs and salespeople start to stress and become overwhelmed because they have confused marketing with selling. And that leads us to the #1 mistake that you make when you network that is costing you time, money, and clients.

The #1 mistake you make: You are trying to sell your product or service when you should be marketing your product or service.

What’s the difference? Selling is simply the exchange of a product or service for money. When you sell your product or service, you are only appealing to 10% of the public because that is the amount that is ready to buy or refer at any given time. It will be a struggle to build your business with that type of return on investment rate.

Yet, there is 60% of your audience who will purchase, if you appeal to them in a way that invokes an emotional desire on their part to remember you, refer you, and do business with you. To achieve this, there is a simple scientific process you can follow, but it means standing out from the crowd, so you can position yourself as THE Expert and Specialist.

You see, over 90% of business people who network sound alike. They stand up and say who they are, what they do, and who they want for a referral or a sale. The structure that they are using for their presentation keeps their information in the short-term memory of their listeners, which is purged every 9 min. and 52 seconds. There is nothing that they are saying that will activate the subconscious mind which remembers, refers and buys.

What strategy can you use to beat the odds? There is a four step process that will move you and what you do into long-term memory retention while invoking the desire to buy within your listeners. This process is just one piece of an overall system to make more money and serve more people with your marketing. A system that I am offering you at no charge in my complementary tele-class that adds to the information contained in this article, “Mistakes You Make When You Market that is Costing You Time, Money and Clients…and the 4 Steps to Turn it Around!” You can register for this no charge tele-class here: http://www.fergusonhypnotherapy.com/free/

Now, let’s put together the pieces for your networking presentation utilizing the 4 Steps to Making Money with Marketing process:

1. The Pain: you begin your presentation by bringing up a major pain point that your potential clients are experiencing right now. For example, my marketing message for my complementary networking tele-class started with, “Did you know that current statistics show you’ve fail to get any business from 90% of the networking meetings that you attend!”
2. How the pain shows up: this is where you take it to the next level by explaining how this holds them back in life. A continuation of my earlier example would be,” Do you really have that much time and money to waste in networking meetings that are never going to bring you any business?”
3. How life will improve now that the pain is no longer a problem: this is where you introduce the concept of how you can begin to improve the quality of their life. The next step in my presentation would be,” What if you could flip those numbers around and actually make a sale or get a referral for 90% of all meetings you attend? How much easier would life be for you?”
4. Their next simple step for success: this is when you introduce who you are and the very easy-to-do-action-step they can take today to resolve their painful problem. “Click on this link to receive your full, free training on how to make money with your marketing: http://www.fergusonhypnotherapy.com/free/

What type of growth can you expect utilizing this type of marketing tactic? At least a 25% improvement within three months. This is not a get rich quick scam nor does it mean you have to work even harder for the same old mediocre results. This is about You Monetizing and Maximizing the actions you’re already taking. I look forward to helping you with that in my no charge tele-class!

Supporting Your Success,

Dawn Ferguson

PS Take your skills to the next level with my Complimentary Teleclass: Marketing Mistakes that are Costing You Time, Money and Clients…and the 4 Steps to Turn It Around. But virtual seating is limited, so at least check it out, OK? www.fergusonhypnotherapy.com/free/