Book Review - 'Recommended: How to Sell Through Networking and Referrals'

Thanks to Stella Collins of Stellar Learning, who recently reviewed Recommended for the TrainingZone.co.uk Book Club. Stella's review is reproduced below.

I was delighted to be asked to review this book as I already use networking as a business strategy so I wanted to find out whether I was doing it right, what else I could do better and what tricks I was missing.  And I particularly wanted to find out more about how to use referrals.

So I was pleased to get some of my key questions answered but now I’ve got quite a lot of work to do to ensure I’m getting the most out of my networks and start asking for referrals!  This is a practical DIY book as well as providing some interesting insights.

 Andy Lopata, the author, describes himself as a business networking strategist practises what he preaches as he’s been generous with his referrals for people who’ve helped him along the way.

It’s quite a long book, 266 pages plus references, but is well structured so you can find what you need.  There are regular summaries at the end of each chapter and highlights are captured ‘in a nutshell’ so you can quickly whizz through to find out the main themes.  But there is a lot of detail too so it’s worth setting time aside to read it properly and, more importantly, to do the exercises that occur in every chapter.  Andy recommends creating a Referral Book and if you do the exercises that is effectively what you’ll have.

The book is appealingly written with anecdotes and stories to illustrate different points.  One of Andy’s key points is to build and maintain relationships and I think he’s done this by engaging with his readers in a personal way – I felt he was talking to me.  And the writing is clear, direct and active making it feel as if selling through networking and referrals is straight forward, so long as you do it well.

There is a useful chapter illustrating the differences between networking at a corporate level and when you’re running your own business, so I think this book could appeal to people in many different types of organisation.  It’s not a ‘get rich quick’ strategy – the importance of building relationships is stressed numerous times – but there are some great success stories in there.  He also covers some of the potential complications of corporate hospitality and other ethical questions about networking.

I particularly liked his categorisation of different goals for networking; you decide whether you’re networking to raise your profile, improve your brain or specifically for referrals so it’s not all about sales.  You can benefit from your networks in many ways. There are other useful definitions and Andy appears to have a good stock of reading and research behind him so it feels authoritative.  There are also ideas from other people which adds to the credibility and you feel you are benefitting from the wisdom of Andy’s own network.

There’s a helpful chapter on how to use social networking and I’m going back to revisit the very practical advice about Linked In as a source of referrals.  I had just decided that I needed something to remind me of everything I’d read when I discovered Ten Steps to an Effective Referral Strategy as a summary.

This was a well written book and would prove useful to professionals:

    who already use networking and want some extra ideas

    who haven't been sure how to use their networks to ask for referrals

    who previously viewed networking as a bit of a chore, handing out business cards and getting no return

    new to networking and want ideas about how to start

 I’ll give ‘Recommended’ 9 out of 10 and will use it as a regular reference for my own strategy.