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NORFOLK NETWORKER NETS CONTACTS £634,233 - FINANCIAL TIMES WEEKEND, 8-9 OCTOBER

13 Oct 2010

A Norfolk man has been rated as the country's most successful networker

A 36 year-old flooring specialist from East Anglia has been rated as the country's most successful networker after helping people in his contacts book amass business worth £634,233 during the past 12 months. 
 
Simon Johnson, who runs Simply Interiors, was given the accolade by Business Network International (BNI), the world's largest networking club, after generating 102 money-making referrals for colleagues at his local King's Lynn BNI chapter. 
 
Johnson's achievement was based on the fact that his average referral generated £6,218 for the contact. 
 
Although other BNI members generated higher sums from individual amounts, particularly if related to property sales, none could do so as consistently as Johnson. 
 
Johnson claimed that he has made business referrals into a hobby and a passion - adding that some of his best referrals were generated in the pub. 
 
"I realised that it simply wasn't enough to tell one colleagues to expect a phone call from another," he said. 
 
"The quality of the referral went up 10-fold if I part-sold my colleague's business or service, picked up the phone and actively connected them, or made them meet in person in a short space of time." 
 
The problem for many would-be-networkers is that they try to sell to people as soon as they meet them, according to Andy Lopatta, a networking expert. 
 
"A good networker is someone who focuses on building a relationship with people around them rather than trying to sell," he said. 
 
"A good networker will have the ability to listen on behalf of others and think about how something can help the people they know, rather than thinking about themselves."

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