How to tell whether a professional network is producing anything

The answer, straight away

A network is measured with four numbers, and the number of members is not one of them. How many introductions you received, how many became negotiations, how many completed, and what share of your year came through it.

If whoever is selling it to you cannot give you those four, they have not demonstrated anything yet.

One: how many matching introductions

Not generic contacts. Introductions on properties or buyers that genuinely fit what you do.

Ten right ones are worth more than two hundred generic ones, which are simply extra work.

Two: how many became negotiations

The step from introduction to viewing is where almost everything is lost, and it tells you whether the selection upstream works.

If you receive a lot and it never converts, the problem is the quality of the matching, not your effort.

Three: how many completed, and how fast

Time is the interesting part. A network that makes you close the same deals in half the time has still changed your year.

Four: what share of your year came through it

This is the number that decides renewal.

Compare it with what you spent, including your own time. A network costing what a portal costs, which brings one extra deal a year in your band, has already won the comparison.

The fifth number, for the precise

What it currently costs you to acquire a client through each channel. Portals, advertising, referrals, network.

Almost nobody calculates it, and the moment you do you discover two of your channels cost more than they return.

How often to look

Quarterly, not monthly. In prime property cycles are long, and three quiet months mean nothing.

Twelve months mean everything, and that is the horizon on which the decision belongs.

What to ask before joining

How many transactions closed inside the network last year, and how many in your area.

The second matters more than the first: a network that is busy elsewhere and empty where you work is no use to you.