Evaluating The Success Of Your Networking Over 2018

Well, where has 2018 gone! It seems like only yesterday we were talking about how to create a solid networking strategy for 2018, where to focus your efforts and how to make the most of your time. And now, with less than a month left of the year, it’s time to look back and see how well that strategy worked out for you, and think about what you might do differently next year. To help you out, here are a few tips for measuring how successful your networking has been, and what you could change for next year.

Know What To Measure

First things first – what do you use to measure the success of networking? After all, it’s a bit of a nebulous thing, not very easy to quantify. But there are a few things you can track to give you an idea of how well things have been going, and how much of a return you’ve been getting from each group:

• Number Of Activities Vs Number Of Sales: How many sales have you made from each networking group? This should be not just the people in the group who have bought from you, but anyone they have referred to you, and anyone those referrals have in turn referred (and so on and so on).

• Number Of Activities Vs Number Of Referrals: This is slightly different to the above, because it covers all the things that were referred to you, but didn’t convert into sales. This helps you gauge how valuable the connections you’re making are. If your referral level is low, it might be time to re-evaluate your networking groups and activities.

• Number Of Referrals Converting To Sales: Now take a look at that list of referrals, and work out how many of them actually converted into sales. This shows you the quality of the referrals you’re receiving from each group. If the referral rate is high but the conversion rate is low, then either you’re doing something wrong, or the quality of referrals is bad.

• Total Time Spent On Each Group: How much time do you spend on each networking activity? Be sure to include travel time, follow up and any prep-work you do, as well as the actual meeting time. You can then compare this to the return you’re getting from each group, and this will tell you if you’re getting any sort of ROI on your time.

• Number Of Referrals Given In Each Group: Remember, networking is a two-way street, and works best when referrals are mutual. If you’re a good fit for the people in your network, you’ll be giving a decent number of referrals out and recommending them as well. If not, then it might not be the right group for you.

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