MARSH MANTRAS TO BUILD A NETWORK AND A LIFE
By Ken Marsh
Ken Marsh is a Houston Business Show Contributor for Business Networking. We are excited to have Mr. Marsh as part of our team. He is an authority on this subject and author of 4 books on Fearless Networking.

“What you are, thunders so, I can not hear what you say”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fearless networking is all about building relationships with people you can count on to share referrals. Effective interpersonal communication is critical in creating trust and respect, the linchpin of relationships.

Fearless networkers are adept at verbal control. They understand that communication is an art as well as a skill. The difference between success and mediocrity in communication is not in what you say but how you say it and in what you do. It is the method and approach that makes or breaks a friendly person-to-person relationship. The keys to communicating triumphantly and to building effective person-to-person relationships are embodied in the following:

1. Be positive in everything you do and say. Convert negative answers into questions.

    2.   Be a good conversationalist by permitting others to do the talking.

    3.   Never criticize.

    4.   Have a good word for competitors. Never speak disparagingly or deprecatingly of 

          anything or anyone at any time.

    5.   Spread compliments. Make your prospective referral feel proud. Make him want to be

          with you. Make this want become the tie that binds in person-to-person

          relationships.

    6.   Through questions point out the needs of others. Example: “You don’t have your

          previous volume of sales, do you Mr. Jones” or “Your turnover appears to be higher

          than industry standards, is this true Mr. Cassidy?”

    7.   Use key phrases that stimulate a positive focus. Example: “benefit,” “value-added,”

          “help,” “getting better,” “improvement,” “change for the better,” and “making

          progress,”  

Visit Ken’s web site at www.fearlessnetworkers.com for a free whitepaper and info on books & DVDs. Also, watch a 3 minute clip of Ken’s interview on Fox 26 “Wake Up Money Show.”