Ladies, let’s face it: When you attend as many networking events/groups — as the Women Entrepreneurs in our Promote Her Business (PHB) community — in addition to accumulating business cards, it’s also easy to accumulate pet peeves.

And sometimes it’s best to get them out in the open — not to be negative or create drama — but rather, to be able to articulate what’s not working — or not working as well as you’d like… so you can tackle the issues head-on and create the Ultimate “Network HER Way” experience (which is exactly what we’re doing at Promote Her Business and appreciate your feedback too).

Here are THE Top 7 Networking Pet Peeves (I’ve heard about all sorts of networking groups over the last decade)…

Do any of these sound familiar? Or make you happy that other women feel like this too!!

1) Attendees Value Short-term Gains over Meaningful Relationships  

People only care about getting immediate business from you. And if you don’t seem to want to buy their products/services today, your relationship is over before it began.

2) Ego-centric 

People have no interest in what you do… they hardly ask you any questions. On the contrary, the only thing they care about is promoting their business until you make up an excuse to get away!

3) Not on the Same Page 

People don’t ask your permission before adding you to their list and/or are consistently calling you about attending events you never expressed interest in getting more information about.

4) Unwelcoming 

People act like they’re back in high school. They stand in circles with friends and make it very difficult for new people to break in. And when you talk, they nod their heads to pacify you and then, go back to their conversations, and never offer to introduce you to others.

5) Boring and Redundant

Sure, there are highly repeated, old-school formats for networking — such as where people sit in a circle week after week and do the same 1-minute commercial until you know everyone’s commercials so well that you want to bang your head against the wall, fall asleep or give yourself a high-five for taking yourself to the next level . . . of patience (lol).

And clearly, so many networking groups wouldn’t be boring their members with such an overused format if it didn’t produce results, right? Or, could there be more interesting formats to achieve the same (or even BETTER) results –but it’s just easier doing what’s always been done? 

What’s interesting is a lot of duplicated networking formats are done from a male paradigm — wouldn’t it be cool to explore what it means to “Network HER Way”? {Especially since it’s helping Women Entrepreneurs get more networking results than ever!} 

6) Painful to Watch

Oh, and don’t even get us started on forcing people with an extreme fear of public speaking to present their business in front of a group… as a “perk” of being in a group. Seriously?!! It’s like giving someone with a fear of spiders the “perk” of holding a tarantula at the zoo.

Although we can’t argue that terrified business owners are entertaining to watch (rolls eyes…) — the reality is that a tortuous business presentation is usually ineffective since it focuses both the speaker and the audience on the Wrong Thing.

Instead of focusing the entrepreneur on presenting their products/services in the best light; the entrepreneur is focused on not passing out in front of the audience, and in turn, the audience is focused on feeling sorry for them (as opposed to focusing on why they’d want to buy what they’re selling)!

7) In-authentic

And then, who hasn’t been to a “business” networking group (emphasis on Business), where people say that it’s all about “getting to know each other” socially, and it’s looked down upon to promote what you do? It’s always a bad sign when you start to feel Guilty that your Passion in life IS to help people through your business. Instead, you feel peer pressured to say your passion is some hobby (which you haven’t had time to do … while you were working on your real passion — your business!)

So, how does PHB Create a More Empowering Context for Networking? 

Although our Promote Her Business community is far from perfect — and we genuinely want Your Feedback on continually improving— here are some things we can promise you:

1) Focus on Deeper Relationships: 

We don’t believe in card-and-runs (where people take your business card and never follow up with you again). That’s why we have unique formats to build Deeper Relationships Faster. 

But don’t believe us, join us as a FREE Guest for PHB’s Virtual Speed Networking and build more inspiring, Win-Win relationships while applying one of “The 12 Secrets to Network HER Way” to get more Yeses & Referrals.

2) Put the Spotlight on Others: 

PHB’s events are designed to have Women Listen, have Vulnerable Conversations, and Ask Questions about each other’s businesses (goodbye ego-centric events!) We even go as far as to test our ability to promote each other during Win-Win 1:1’s by using something we call “The A+ Test.”  PHB Members are encouraged to participate in 2 Win-Wins per month — both at events like Global Networking Circle — as well as by initiating Win-Wins with our global sisterhood of Women Entrepreneurs around their schedule. PHB Members are proud to shine the brightest spotlight on each other.   

3) Culture of “Soft-Selling”:

Pushing things on people is not cool, and neither is spamming Facebook groups! If you do this, PHB will not be a good fit for you. With that said, there is a difference between pushing others and promoting your business in agreed-upon ways on our Promote Her Business public Facebook. For example, feel free to participate in Promote Your Business Thursdays (where you can post any product, service, or event you’re offering) or #FavPostFriday (where you re-post other Women Entrepreneurs’ posts, so ladies get a second chance to see posts they might have missed).  Join our PHB FB group here. 

4) Collaboration over Competition: 

At PHB, we don’t do cliques — in fact, we design our events to get to know new people and to be peer mentors. Rather, we believe in collaboration over competition, so Women Entrepreneurs in the same industry can learn from each other and compare notes.

For example: PHB Round-Table Networking is an interactive and empowering way for PHB Members to share their business experiences, best practices, and sticking points . . . while Networking HER Way {aka: collaboratively}!

5) Networking HER Way: 

We believe there are many ways to get a successful result when networking — and using an overdone format doesn’t have to be one of them! That’s why PHB formats are very innovative and unique… and they aren’t like any other women’s group, business group, or networking group.  

At PHB, we “Network HER Way” … and put on 5 virtual, networking events each month, which are very fun, very memorable, and highly rewarding! 

For example: Ladies rave about our monthly, Wild Card Networking event.  Each month, PHB changes up the format to keep things interesting and go with the flow of what’s going on in the world. We’ve done Barter Networking, Promote-A-Friend, Declaration Rally formats, and more… Start PHB Membership for only $1 to experience what next month’s format will be (grin). 

6) Speaking Perks:

The only people who get the “perk” of speaking are Women who actually want to be on stage. When you become a PHB Member, you can apply to join or start a PHB Private Networking Circle — for no additional cost — and experience what having a 30-minute, Get-To-Know Spotlight is like!  In addition, you can regularly have your voice heard by posting to our  PHB FB group. 

7) Online and Offline Promotion: 

Women have been anonymous and hidden away enough over the centuries. We are called Promote Her Business for a reason, and we won’t bait and switch you when you join us. Yes, you will make new friends; yes, you can socialize; and yes, your business won’t be the only thing you talk about. 

But you will ALWAYS get to promote your business– without guilt. And we firmly believe in promoting your business and each other — Online. Offline. All the time.  The more people know us, the more they think of us 1st and buy from Women Entrepreneurs 1st. And we believe in focusing on promoting yourself – and your networking strategy – so much that we have Your Monthly Networking Plan zoom, so ladies can set themselves up for success month-over-month {together}. 

What’s the Next Step?

Have some of your biggest pet peeves have been addressed in the Promote Her Business community?

If so, we invite you to Start PHB Membership for $1 Today. 

Attend 5 virtual “Network HER Way” events per month around your schedule. Get to know our global sisterhood of Women Entrepreneurs to get more referrals, build more Win-Win relationships & inspire more women to do business with you.

Let’s Network HER Way! 

Love,

Jōs, Founder/CEO, PHB Int’l