The Secret to Successful Networking in 6-Words

Networkers are told to ask "How can I help you?" What they are actually thinking is "How can you help me?" Why neither mindset is right.

Mike Marcellus

Dec 08, 2023

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We’ve heard all the sayings - “Giver gain”, “Give without expectations”, and “Give to get”.

In a perfect world, I would agree.

But, unfortunately, we don’t live in a prefect world.

The world is filled with takers.

There is no equilibrium with the “give and take” models in the modern world and this unbalance seems unfair.

I’ve told hundreds of professionals over the years, the key question in business networking is not just “how can I help you?” (unless you want to be used by the takers)

And it’s certainly not “how can you help me?” (although a lot of salespeople still ask it)

The key to networking can be summed up in 6-words. It’s a strategic question that is rarely asked - “How can we help each other?”

I know, that seems easier said than done.

But have you ever tried it?

Imagine if two professionals who just met both had that mindset?

No sales pitches.

No attempts to close a sale.

No hidden agendas.

Just two people trying to help each other.

That’s it.

My Hypothesis

I believe the majority of professionals who are paired up are willing to help each other if they had direction and structure.

To test this hypothesis, I have setup a short-term as well as a long-term project to gather data for further analysis.

The short-term experiment will be done over a span of 30-days on LinkedIn, the largest professional networking website in the world.

The longer-term experiment shall be tracked over the span of 365-days (throughout the 2024 year).

The Short Term Experiment

This month, I’ve been experimenting on LinkedIn to strengthen my connections. I will approach connections with a “win-win” proposition to see if this strategy if effective.

Below is the first professional I contacted.

Obviously, I will be targeting lesser-known professionals during my experiment, as well, so the numbers are not skewed.

Still, you’ve got to think big!

The Long Term Experiment

To prove my hypothesis through a different model, I have developed application called the Tipclub App that would require two professionals to “help each other” if they were matched.

App users are required to list a favor they need (we define a favor as something that would take 15-minutes or less)

If two users “swipe right” to accept each others respective favor, it’s a match!

Both users pledge to help each other. Win-win!

Imagine if this simple yet profound concept is setup with a working structure and accountability features so that it becomes a norm in the business world today…

I will keep everyone posted on the results!

Upcoming Events

Interested in growing your business network and sharing knowledge?

Check out our upcoming events:

Local Business Networking Meetings: https://www.tipclub.co/events
Community Networking Event: https://tipclub-jan-10-2024.eventbrite.com
Government Networking Event: https://gov-jan-2024.eventbrite.com
LinkedIn Workshop: https://LinkedIn-jan-2024.eventbrite.com

Week 11 of “The Experiment”

My 100 Days of Social Networking Experiment has completed 77 days! I’ve implemented new strategies and fresh approaches as I try to figure out the secrets to these social media platforms. Stay tuned!

Here are some of the Networking Tips I posted this past week on social media: