Networking Now:

I am in Japan doing presentations on business networking this week and it has made me think about how word-of-mouth marketing is a concept that crosses cultural, ethnic and political boundaries. It resonates within entrepreneurs all over the world. It resonates in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas–because we all speak the language of referrals.

As I put together business development networks or referral groups in many countries around the world over the past two decades, I was frequently told that this type of networking won’t work in other countries. It was ironic to hear “this won’t work here, we’re different” the first time because it was said by someone in one part of Southern California talking about people who were 25 miles away in another part of Southern California!

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I later came to understand that this person just didn’t want to do the hard work necessary to slowly build his referral business. Rather than say, “I don’t want to do that,” it was easier to say, “we’re different here” (even though “here was only a few miles away from “there”).

Over the years I was amazed to come across some people who absolutely refused to follow the tried-and-true fundamentals that proved to work in generating referrals as I developed networking programs through BNI across the  United States and later the world. In many cases they used the “we’re different” argument or said things like “that won’t work here.” When talking about self-development, I have a friend who often says, “When it comes to ourselves, we’re always the exception.” Everybody else should do what’s been proved to work. It seems that the “we’re different here” mantra that some people spout actually prevents them from following proven methods of self-development. Only truly successful people understand that everyone who has achieved success has succumbed to the basics.

Years ago, I began to dissect what we were doing to determine just what it is about referral marketing that makes it cross national and cultural boundaries so well. I determined that the lowest common denominator is that people want referrals! The public wants referrals, the business community wants referrals, everyone seems to want referrals. In order to generate referrals, people must build trust. Building trust takes time. Structured networking programs speed up the process in a safe environment, but they still take time.

Apparently, this concept does transcend cultural differences. One of the reasons this happens is that networking programs operate within the cultural context, not outside it. That is to say, the cultural differences can easily integrate within a structured program that takes time and is based on building trust among other business people. Structured networking programs may then embrace cultural differences while following an overlay or system that emphasizes relationship building and referral generation.

Now of course it’s true that people are different around the world, but normally all businesspeople want to conduct business more effectively. When harnessing the power of relationship marketing is the goal, driving businesses further and faster through business-to-business networking can be an effective result. Codifying the process of networking into a networking system helps businesses learn how to do that, thereby transcending our cultural differences.

My experience has shown that people in any entrepreneurial economy can use a networking system to improve their business. If this system is done within the cultural context and not outside it, I have found that the same networking concepts and techniques are almost completely transferable from one country to another. It is basically due to the truth that business is business when it comes to relationship marketing, no matter the culture, ethnicity or political persuasion.