I recently attended at leads group that I have been a part of for several weeks. As I went into the room, I found that most people sit in the exact same spot each week. I began to wonder if they really liked that particular seat or where just uncomfortable moving around the room. The psychology behind it (and from years of training people), is that people like routine and will sit in the same seat unless forced to do otherwise. Now how many people do you think they will get to know in this group? Probably the ones on either side and just across the table. A very small network.

Now let's take this one step further. I made a choice to sit at the opposite end of the table with a new group. I was privileged to talk to 5 new people. They knew who I was but were not too sure about how I could help their business as they only heard snippets from the other end of the table. Nothing could be better said. In sales, networking is crucial and getting to know more than just a couple of people in a group is essential.

It so happened that a person in my new circle discovered that someone at the other end of the table had an incident where her expertise would solve the problem. Because she had not made the effort to get to know the other person, she thought that if they needed her, they would call. Hmmm, something is definitely wrong with that scenario.

A few keys to getting business from a networking group include:

* Sit in a new place with new people each meeting.
* Get to know each person around you (set outside meetings to learn even more).

* Don't wait for the business, call when you know you can help.
* Make sure everyone really understands what you do.