“Andy has worked with my business partner and me for a number of months as a referral and networking coach. Our business has demonstrably grown due to the new techniques and skills learned through working with Andy. ”
Dan Hall, Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch
“Andy has a can do and flexible attitude and is happy to develop and shape the content in line with the clients changing needs. Feedback from participants on Andy's workshops has been consistently very positive. ”
Una Murphy, Manager BBC Careerlink
“ ”
Tracy Johnson, Marketing Services Director, Eventia
“Of all the events I've organised, I have never received so much unsolicited thanks and positive feedback as I did following this. ”
Emma Mortimore Membership Secretary, One Alfred Place
“Andy has successfully elevated networking into more of a strategic arena ...................rather than it just being a "skills" thing. ”
Phil Jesson, Director of Speaker Development Academy for Chief Executives
“There are many motivational speakers on the circuit who leave behind them just a short lived glow and then there are the subject matter pragmatic, passionate presenters who can potentially change the long term way their audience thinks or operates. I’d put Andy Lopata in the latter category. ”
Trevor Salomon – Director, Corporate Marketing, IFS
“"In the three months since Andy delivered his sessions, I've noticed a clear change in the approach taken by everyone who participated. We have already received a number of referrals as a result." ”
Andy O'Sullivan, Head of Sales - Hospitality, Wembley Stadium
“Andy certainly made a difference on how I normally approach / perceive events such as this. ”
Ann Azzopardi, Category Buying Manager, Pret a Manger
“Andy was a guest speaker at one of European Young Professionals networking events in London in 2007. The 400 people who showed up were blown away by Andy's presentation and it was in fact one of the key reasons behind EYP London's early success. ”
Nick Jonsson, Founder, European Young Professionals
“Andy is an energetic presenter who quickly captured our audience's attention. The content of his presentation was excellent and fostered lively commentary and questions. We will definitely have Andy back for another session and are looking for other ways to partner with him. ”
Jennifer Rademaker, Head of Strategy Development Europe, MasterCard
“It was the best talk I’ve ever been to. Loved the content, pacing, delivery, structure. Your message was very memorable (imparting that much information can leave listeners forgetting what was said) and you managed the balance between substance, detail and memorability well. ”
Rebecca Aguilar, BBC Worldwide
“I've had the benefit of being mentored by Andy and he has provided enormous value. His style is both supportive and challenging whilst being very engaging, and the techniques he teaches are extremely practical and valuable. ”
Derek Bishop, Culture Consultancy ltd
“Andy Lopata’s insights into referrals and networking should be taught in all induction programmes. Networking and referrals should not be thought of as another sales skill or tactic, but as part of the company’s values and culture. ”
Ignacio Hernandez Managing Director, EMEA, Currencies Direct Limited
“The striking thing about Andy is that he writes a book on networking that demystifies the process and shows you all the things you know you should be doing - but never really get round to. Then he surprises you by practising what he preaches! ”
Russ King, Product Manager, Monster.com

How much time do you need to invest in social networking?

17th October 10 — andylopata

Following my recent webinar on using networking effectively to grow your business, I received an email from one of the participants. He asked me "how much time would someone need to invest, daily or weekly into online networking through platforms like LinkedIn, FaceBook etc...?

"I would probably like those tools and want to spend loads of time on them, crawling through contact trees, discovering all the nice features, but this time is too precious and scarce, so in order not to be tempted, I just don't connect to it.

"The result of this, is that I virtually do not exist... Today, whoever is not on those networks literally do not exist, isn't that so ? But then, "existing" takes a lot of time... unless you manage to set up a minimal profile and keep it updated with a minimal time investment."

I don't think that you wouldn't "exist" without a presence online and involvement in social networks is not essential in modern business. However, there are a huge number of advantages if you do use social networks wisely and failure to get involved would mean losing out to competitors who are engaged.

The key to not spending too much time online is having very clear objectives about what you want to achieve from participation in any individual network and then understanding to what you need to commit to achieve those objectives. Many people are put off social networks because of the sheer amount of functionality, opportunity and activity.

Take one key outcome from each membership and focus on how participation will help you achieve that goal. Do you want your membership help you to raise your profile? Are you looking to use the network for more knowledge and market information? Do you need to leverage the connections the network can both offer and help you structure?

Once you know that outcome, focus purely on the relevant use of the network. Membership of LinkedIn, for example, can offer you a whole range of benefits but I teach clients to start out by using it to generate referrals. If you follow my process to use LinkedIn as a referral tool, once you have put in the initial groundwork you could use the site for ten minutes a week and see tangible results.

I use Twitter as a profile building tool, allowing its viral nature and search engine to allow more people to find out about me and the microblogging aspect to educate people in my network so that they understand more about what I do. It is also an excellent tool to help me connect regularly and stay in touch with people I have met recently.

That requires regular involvement on the site but does not mean I have to sit on Twitter for any long span of time. As I write this blog Twitter is open in another window. I can finish the blog and post the link to Twitter, look through recent posts from my network and then move onto my next task in seconds. I use Facebook in a similar way.

I choose only to be active on a small number of social networks, although I do have a presence on others. I focus my activity on those sites based around the objectives I have set for them, and then carry on happily with my day to day work.

What I do know is that the return required from each site needs to provide a return that justified the time I do spend on it and saves me time elsewhere. If you can demonstrate those efficiencies, you'll no longer feel that time spent on social networks is time wasted.

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