Geeks: They Really Do Love Networking

They just prefer to do it a little differently ...

POSTED BY JACKY SHERMAN ON 14/10/2015 @ 8:00AM

This week, as I trawled LinkedIn to see what my network was talking about, I got caught in a loop of blogs, posts and comments from people who say they hate networking. Strange that they are using a network to proclaim that statement ...

Geeks really do love networking, they just prefer to do it a little differently!

I also coach a client who is a reluctant networker. He knows he should do it and yet professes he hates it. Stranger still, as he is highly sociable, a great conversationalist and a superb people reader.

"Then I went to my once a month meet-up with fellow marketers!"

All are people who have been on one of my workshops and decided to carry on meeting up afterwards. One of these people is Nick Morton from Supplyant and he was talking about his Geek Nights.

It's a get together of people who are interested in technology (at all levels) who meet to learn, share ideas and, presumably, to talk Geek. As an aside 'geekish' is already coined to mean 'talking in acronyms'. I think 'Geek' is a better term as, to me, it reminds me of the expression "It's all Greek to me" meaning that I didn't understand a word of it!

However, people who do speak Geek hold animated and involved discussions. Yet these are often the very same people who are monosyllabic when joining in with general social conversations and they are usually the people who passionately hate traditional networking.

So that sent me back to Google to look up other Geek nights and I found several. These are all networking events, but rarely called that. The most usual term is a 'meet-up' or 'get together'.

What a great many of these people have in common is a specific behavioural style. At the Referral Institute, we call them Examiners.

Here is a quote from our book, Room Full of Referrals, that describes people who operate this way:

"Examiners tend to be very thorough, efficient, task-driven people. They seek information and knowledge and love to check things off their 'to-do' list. Because they need a lot of information, they tend to make decisions more slowly than other people. [They] tend to be very good conversationalists as they know a lot about a lot of topics. If they attend business networking functions, it is only to market their business and once they have achieved their goal they usually leave the event as quickly as possible.

They are always in control of their emotions and may become uncomfortable around people who are less self-contained. They tend to see the serious, complex side of situations.

Their intelligence and natural wit, however, gives them unique, quick, off-the-wall senses of humour." - Room Full Of Referrals by Dr. Tony Alessandra, Dr. Ivan Misner and Dawn Owen.

No wonder they profess to hate 'networking' and prefer to go to events with in-depth content. What can you take away from knowing this?

Well, if you're a Geek yourself and have that style, then you do love networking in the sense that it is meeting people, exchanging information and ideas and forming new relationships with people who also speak Geek.

If you want, or more likely need to, do business with people who are more emotional and chatty than you then grit your teeth and recognise they don't understand, yet alone speak, Geek.

If your style is more sociable and you are networking with people like this and find yourself listening to Geek, reign yourself in emotionally, ask lots of questions and talk to them about why the two of you could be effective together.

To learn how to use information like this, which can help you form more connections wherever you choose to meet other people in business, come on my workshop on 23rd October.

At the very least you will learn how not to be bored or irritated when mixing with people who have a very different take on life to you. At the best, you may meet someone who can refer you to people who need your services.

If you want to know more about Geeks and behavioural styles, you may want to read the Referral Institutes book, Room Full of Referrals or search Google for the term The Platinum Rule.

Don't forget to book onto my workshop either!

Until next time ...

JACKY SHERMAN