POWER NETWORKING GROUPS FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS - PART 2

It's more about networking in a group that you're going to join. We actually join a group. You're in that group where you build relationships over time that maybe meets weekly or every other week or every month. Hi there, it's Kevin Ward, the founder of yes Masters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yeses and more successes in your business, in your life. And this is another video about networking. This is actually part two of two part video. The first video will put the link down below. If you haven't seen it yet, probably want to watch it first. It is about power networking, what I call the one night stand approach. In this video we're going to talk about what I call the long game approach where it's more about networking in a group that you're going to join. We actually join a group. You're in that group where you build relationships over time that maybe meets weekly or every other week or every month, so forth. So I'm going to give you the five strategies for how to find and join the right kind of networking group. Number one, and then second, we're going to talk about the key to making it effective for you as a lead generation source. So first, there's five things that I'm looking for in the perfect networking group. So number one is I'm looking for a group that is what I'm going to call agent free. Now what I mean by that is I don't want to. You don't want to join as a real estate agent, you don't want to join a group that there's 20 people in the group and four of them are realtors or six of them are realtors because that group's a little saturated with realtors. And the moment that you introduce yourself as a real estate agent, they're gonna go like, oh yeah. And they're done. They've had enough of real estate agents in the group. And so what I really want is a group that doesn't have a lot of real estate agents in it. And at the end of this video I'm going to talk about some different places that I have seen that are really great places that I'm going to suggest you find where you can get into groups where there's not a lot of real estate agents. Number two is I want to be in a group where there are homeowners. I want a group where there's people that have money, people that own real estate. Now if you're, this is assuming you're in residential real estate. But if you're if you're doing it for lead generation, if you're networking for lead generation, I want to be in a group where there's people that can actually give me be a source of leads and be a source of business. So I'm looking for somewhere where people have money. I'm not looking to join a group where everybody's broke. If you're joining a group and the title starts with young, you're probably not going to get a lot of listing leads from that group. For sure, you may get some first time home buyers, but if you want to build a big business and you want to control your business, listings is the name of the game. And so I want a group that's got homeowners, people that have money, people that are affluent, that kind of people. If your goal is networking. Now, look, if you have a heart for something and you want to be a part of a group, I'm not telling you you should only be in a group to make money. It's not what we're saying here. But if you're in it to make money, if you're there to find business, and that's part of the motivation, and it may not be the only motivation, but it's part of it, then make sure you're in a place where you're actually going to get the goal that you set the outcome that you want, and that is you're going to get business from it. And there's a better chance in one that has homeowners in it. The third thing I'm looking for is I want a group that meets, we'll just say regularly. They meet regularly. And what that can be is once a month, it may be twice a week, it may be, I'm sorry, twice a month, once a week, you're not looking for a group that meets like every other day. You're not, because now you're gonna, you're gonna spend an inordinate amount of time in the group without getting a return. And this is one of the things that you have to take into consideration and that is am I going to get the return on investment for the amount of time that I'm investing in the group. And so, but I want it to be meet regularly enough that I have time to engage with people, to meet people and so forth. So meets regularly, but doesn't take so much of my time that it really becomes a drain on the time. Which also then leads to the fourth thing that I'm looking for in a group. And that is you really want a group that is larger rather than, I can't spell larger, but it is larger. A larger group, not a small group. And when I talk about larger, how big is larger? I don't know, but I would say if you can find a group that is 20 or more people, especially if it's one that meets every week or something like that. If it meets every week, I want to be in a group that's got at least 30, 40, 50, 100, 200 people in it. Now if you're in a smaller community, these groups may be harder to find. But a larger group just gives you a bigger pool of relationship. It gives you a greater odds for getting referrals from that group. So if you're joining a networking group, and so let's just kind of play this out here. If you're joining a business networking group like BNI is a very well known, nationally recognized networking group here in the US bni, Business Networking International. So I guess it's beyond, it's beyond just the U.S. it's international. It's a group that meets. Typically they meet every week and they meet for the purpose of networking for business. That's the purpose of it. So does it match this criteria? Well, one, is it agent free? Most networking groups or business networking groups, they tend to limit it to one person in each profession. So they can only be one doctor, one attorney, one insurance agent, one realtor, one veterinarian, one dentist. You know, they narrow it down where there can only be one person in each profession. So a B and I network group would definitely meet. The agent free thing. Homeowners. Does it have people that actually have own homes and that actually know people that own homes? Well, I would hope that a business networking international group would do that. Meet regularly? Yes, they meet regularly. They're scheduled and structured for that. Is it a larger group? Now here's one of the things you got to look at. If they're a brand new group and they've got five people and they're trying to grow, I'm going to warn you about joining groups that are trying to grow. And if you go to their meeting or you go to a couple meetings and they, they keep talking about we need more members and we need to grow, what they're telling you is that's what they're focused on. And that tells you they probably aren't growing. And that's probably not a group you want to be in. If you're joining a group, a startup group, it is going to be a long, painful road. I'd rather go Into a group where the people are already there and I'm just going in and building the relationships. It's way easier to do that. So a larger group is better than a smaller group. Third, the fifth element that I'm looking for is I want it to be something I'm looking for, something of interest. And that is if you're going to go to this meeting, it's got to be something you're interested in that you actually enjoy. Because if you hate it, you're not going to be. You're either not going to go or when you go, you're going to look like you hate it. That kind of leaks, right? So it's got to be something that you're interested in. Now, the cool thing is it doesn't have to be a business networking group. It can be a country club. So let's just talk now about what are the kind of groups that you can find and that you can join to do this. So let me first give you a great resource. I think if you're, if you're looking and going like, I need the perfect group to join, where do I find that? I think one of the best places to go is to a website, meetup.com. meetup.com. If you're not familiar with it, just go to meetup.com and they have in your community the kinds of groups that meet regularly, small, big, all kinds of interest, and look through there and find a group that you want that matches all these criteria. And you may not know just by looking at the group, but you can get a pretty good feel because it will also tell you how many people are set up to go to the next meeting. It'll tell you when the next meeting is, where it is. It'll give you all the details on it. So just check that out and help. You can find all kinds of groups. Okay, so it's a great place to go. Now, what are some kind of groups that I can look for that'll be great for me? So one things like country clubs, chambers of commerce, networking groups, yacht clubs, if you're close to the beach or any kind of affinity group club, it may be a tennis club, it can be an athletic club, and so forth. Here's some of the things you got to look for. Is it a place that, is it. Is it a group that actually meets regularly? So if you're in a. For example, if you're in a yacht club, as let's say, does that yacht club have. Is it just people get on boats and go racing like A sail. If it's a sailboat club where all they do is they get together and they go out on sailboats and race, well, you're only hanging out with two or three of the same people every time you go out and sail. But there's not any time to really socialize and get to meet other people and network, then you're going to be spending a lot of time not getting much results. Now again, what if it's just something you love and want to do it? Awesome, do it. It's not saying don't do it. It's just understanding that is it going to be effective for lead generation or not? I mean, look, if there's a group in your neighborhood that they get together every Thursday night and play Texas Hold' Em and you love poker, go if you love it. But look, if you're going for lead generation and all the same four people show up every week or five people and they all drink and get drunk. If you enjoy playing poker and getting drunk, go. But don't expect that to be a great lead generation place. If you're just going and spending three hours every Thursday night with the same group of people, you're not going to get any business from that. So understand we're talking about networking as a lead generation strategy. So just be clear on what kind of group will get you that kind of the result that you want. And when you put all that together and focus on it, just measure all that. You may have to visit some different organizations. Foundations are a great volunteer. Organizations can be a great place. Again, just make sure they match the criteria. I was talking to one of my coaching members that is a member of a hospital foundation that has over 200 members. They meet every, I think they meet every month. And there's 200 people in it. And these are business leaders, they're community organizers, they're people that have money. And that kind of a group is a great group. I'll tell you one of my favorites that I've had, my experience has been civic organizations. I don't think I mentioned that civic organizations is another great group to be involved in. Again, is it saturated with realtors or not? Just you've got to look at all of this. Is it a small group or is it a good sized group? Toastmasters was one that I found that I love Toastmasters. And Toastmasters has a lot of advantages for you. One, you will learn how to communicate better. You want to become a better speaker. Whether you're speaking to one person in a prospecting conversation or A listing presentation, Toastmasters will make you better as a communicator. So it's a really great place to help you do that. Two is the people that hang out there. One I found out and I've been in three Toastmasters and what I discovered was there's almost no realtors. And when there was a realtor that would come, Realtor would come once or twice and that would be it. Apparently realtors just don't really get into that stuff. And so I'm like, this is cool. Because what I found was there was a lot of community leaders, people with influence, they were business owners and they were growth minded people. So there were people who were in businesses where communication skill mattered. Well, in America, people that have business, that are in jobs and positions where communication skills matter, tend to make a lot of money. So you tend to be dealing with people who are either affluent, they're homeowners, they own real estate. It is a great group. So when you can find a group like Toastmasters of people that are into self improvement, into growth, into learning, all of that really, really is powerful. And then once you find the right group, here is the key, just like we talked about in the previous video on networking and the key to being powerful with it is learn to be a giver in the group where it's not what can the group do for me, ask not what the group can do for you, ask what you can do for the people in the group. And when you're a giver, not a taker, you're going to receive a ton of opportunities, you're going to receive referrals, you're going to receive business because you're focused on what I can do to add value to others. And look, when people are looking for a good real estate agent, they're not looking for somebody to pay a bunch of money to. They're looking for somebody that can add value to them in their transaction, that can help them make their move smoother and better than without a real estate agent. So they're not looking for a taker, they're looking for a giver. They're looking for somebody that can contribute to their life in this transaction and the transition of buying and selling real estate. So be a giver. And when you do that, you find the right group and you be the right person in that group. It is a great place to get business over the long term. And once you're doing that, don't be afraid, don't be a secret agent. Let them know what you do, Let them know you do real estate, but do it from a position of what can I do to help you? What can I do to help your business? Anybody you know that I can help? It's always about helping other people. If you've got some ideas or strategies or comments or thoughts or questions about networking that you'd like to share, please share them in the comments down below. If you've liked this video, give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't done that. If you and get out there. Connect with people, build relationships and always expect yes.