Networking 101: Are You a Giver or a Taker?

Whether you provide professional services or a product, the best reference you can receive is from someone who has had a positive experience with you and your company. This is an obvious statement. So why do some professional service providers appear to secure more business and higher revenue than others? One answer may be tied to your natural personality traits. If you have an affinity to helping others regardless of what is in it for you, you are a giver. If you enjoy the company of others and help out when asked, you may be just a friend. If you offer to help others, only if you know what’s immediately in it for you, you are a taker; period.

The Internet provides a scalable model for revenue generating if you have a well established brand and a product that can be downloaded or sent to your customer’s location. Professional service providers who have little brand, let alone a physical product, must network with colleagues and alliances who can exchange referrals. Herein lays the question, “Are you a Giver or a Taker when it comes to networking?”

Givers are people who take a genuine interest in listening to another person’s interest and business model. Asking inquisitive questions – not questions that will stump someone – allows a giver to formulate immediately where they can add value and referrals for the benefit of the person they are listening to. They ‘give’ their time and sincere interest for the benefit of the other person, comfortably knowing they will receive a referral in exchange.

Executed sincerely, a giver will get their share of referrals from the other person at some point. Why apply the word sincerely? Sincere professional service providers are experts in their field and secure in their character. They are confident they add value to others expecting a professional courtesy of referrals in the future.

So what is a Taker? A Taker is a person who has poor listening skills, adds little insight to another person’s comments, and is void of sincere interest in building a collaborative relationship.

Write down two classifications: Active and Inactive. List out the contacts you have made over the past month and classify those that are Active: people who have exchanged an idea, news article or referral to your attention. Now list the Inactive people. The Inactive list identifies those who have not made an effort in the past 3 months plus to provide you with something insightful, let alone a referral. These folks are not bad people. They may even be friends. The issue is the ability to identify who you should invest time with: Givers or Takers.

Ideally, you personally are a hybrid of being a giver and a friend. This type of person is extremely successful in their personal and professional lives. We all know people who clearly fit this profile. If you have no clue or do not believe in this perspective, it’s ok with us; however you need to know, you are likely to be perceived by you professional community as at taker.

For the majority of us, time is a precious commodity. It behooves us to invest our time wisely by joining organizations of Givers. The very word ‘taker’ is a drain on our time, expertise, life and money.