Hey Scott,
If this is suppose to be a business network, why are people afraid to network! If someone offers a great product or service that is affordable and will save people time and money, what could be stopping them from taking advantage of this opportunity?
To which I replied:
Online networking is very different from face-to-face networking in that regard. If you've been in, say, BNI or some similar group, and that's your expectation online, you're going to be disappointed.
First of all, there's no restrictions on participation. In a typical face-to-face networking group, there is only one person per industry even allowed. But here online, there are no such restrictions. So, for example, there are dozens and dozens of web designers on here. If every one of them started promoting their services, the whole thing would just turn into an ad board and become completely useless. It would have absolutely no advantage over an internet yellow pages. There are 40 other _________ and over 250 people in the _______ industry on Ryze. Do you really want all of them constantly promoting their services? If they did, it would just become "noise" -- it would be impossible to distinguish yourself.
So, since everyone can't play that way, no one can play that way. If the acceptable way to differentiate yourself was simply to be the first (or the most vocal) person to respond to an inquiry, that wouldn't be a sustainable business practice.
Which brings us to the second issue - trust. In a networking group, you see the same people week after week, month after month, and you develop a strong sense of trust -- an essential element in business transactions. Yet online, that trust is not earned so quickly. You have to have the online equivalent of all that chit-chat that goes on before and after networking meetings. You have to introduce the personal aspect into the business context to grow that trust and build those relationships. Yes -- it's somewhat time-consuming, but the pay-off is far greater for most people, but not necessarily for everyone.
I hope that helps clarify,
- Scott -
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