Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a (Business) Match By Danielle Lum, Hawaii Bureau Chief Danielle's Bio     Email article     RSS feed      Share on  facebook

Mark Seery can easily be considered Hawaii’s business matchmaker. He just likes to connect people; put two people together for the sole purpose of either doing business or strengthening their networks.

“I find great pleasure in being a connector,” Mark says. It’s his first nature, “Why would I not want to help my friends?”

Mark is a trainer for the Referral Institute of Hawaii (www.referralinstitutehi.com), where he teaches the nuts and bolts of being a great networker.

For someone who is constantly connecting people (Mark estimates that he has already facilitated approximately 500 business matches), he’s very discriminating about the people he will connect.

He first builds credibility with the potential match. He has to know that the person is professional, true to their word, and will treat any potential contacts well. “After all,” he says, “My credibility and reputation are on the line.”

Then he learns about the person’s business, specifically the target audience and the benefits for the intended targets.

The table is set

Once the initial groundwork is done, he sets out to connect the person with someone whose target markets are similar, and/or who could be important or of help.

Mark makes a phone call and a personal introduction of the pair. He’s careful to edify the parties and explain why it’s in each party’s best interest to start the relationship. Then he encourages them to arrange a meeting. He’ll attend the meeting if he’s available.

“I have a relationship with both parties and they’re comfortable with me,” Mark says.  “So in a sense I mediate the first meeting to get them on their way.”

Before he sets the happy couple on their way, he makes sure they know he has three expectations of them:

1. That they put the needs of the other person’s clients first
2. That they are accountable to him
3. They look for two others and do for them what he just did

Humble networking beginnings

Mark started networking as a small business owner. Business wasn’t booming. Far from it, in fact. They were working on a shoestring budget, missing their target market, and the phone wasn’t ringing.

One day he was trying to drum up business by canvassing other businesses with flyers when another business owner told him about BNI.

He ended up joining, expecting that the referrals and business is sure to follow. It didn’t.

“I watched other pass referrals to each other, and none to me,” he says. “I started forming opinions of other members and getting angry.” Then he quit the chapter and joined another.

This chapter was different. Members approached him and explained that he needed to go to training and learn the concepts of “givers gain.”

“I missed the basic concepts of networking,” Mark says. “I didn’t give anything and I got back the exact equivalent of what I gave.” The second chapter helped him with the epiphany. “It was so basic.”

So Mark started taking interest in others’ businesses as a means to invest in his own. “It’s so much easier to promote someone else’s business than to promote yourself,” he says.

And in helping others’ businesses grow, so did his.

Sage advice from a master

Having been the owner of a new business, Mark knows the stress that comes with it, so he offers some advice:

• Network, and learn to network effectively.

• Join a networking group like BNI, Toastmasters, the Chamber of Commerce

• Join an organization that gives back to the community.
 

“But be careful not to spread yourself too thin,” he warns. “Try to keep your membership and involvement to three groups.”

Mark also advises that networkers understand that “building trust takes time, but it’s worth the investment. When people trust you, they are more comfortable and ready to refer others to you.”

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