Tag: networking

(This post is the second part of a two-part series. Part one can be found here.)

5. Remember, there is no template

Like in part one, I’m starting this segment with a psychological hurdle. We often have a perception of what a networker is – someone extraverted, someone who is oftentimes the life of the party, someone with 4,839,234 friends in Facebook. A natural gift of gab certainly helps, but it doesn’t mean your destined you can’t network well if you aren’t. Some of the very best networkers I’ve come to know are mild-mannered and unassuming. This is important if we want to grow into mega-networkers: it CAN be learned and it ISN’T necessarily tied to our personality.

Like in growing any skill, however, you have to be able to practice it often.

6. Build, but also remember to maintain

It’s relatively easier to build a network versus maintaining it. Maintenance is hard work. Maintenance means keeping tabs, sending emails, grabbing lunch together, doing Skype chats and all that. How do you do this if you want to maintain say, 500, quality relationships?

Segregate.

Quick and dirty strategy: choose 50 (why 50? try googling path.com’s original strategy) relationships which you find very critical to your objectives. Be sure you have face-to-face time with them regularly. The next 100, perhaps a face-to-face meeting every 6 months or so. The rest? Email correspondence. Build up a system like this (the actions and the numbers are dictated by how much time you can free up), and remember, you can move people up or down your hierarchy.

The most basic way to maintain a business relationship? Keep promises.

They say a relationship takes a lifetime to build and a moment to ruin. Your network of “quality contacts” is a web of relationships. A single broken promise can ruin not merely a singular relationship, but your entire reputation.  Don’t let people down.

7. To sell, avoid selling

This is a very interesting irony I’ve seen happen time and time again. Most of the time, we network with people with the particular intention of selling. The thing is, most people, especially in events/occasions where the person isn’t there as a buyer, are immediately turned off the moment they sense a sales pitch coming. And the feeling is, “I’ve been had!“

SWITCH OFF that paradigm that you are there to sell. Instead, make friends. Allow your genuine interest in people to take over. Focus on building a relationship.

Once the relationship has been established and you are talking, trust me, the conversation will naturally flow into what you are peddling. The person will then buy from you if she is interested. Sometimes this process I just described can happen in one conference, or it can happen across months.

8. It’s not about you

Always remember the double-edged sword. Rather than always thinking “what can this guy do for me?” Always think,  “what can I do for this guy?” You’d be surprised at how much more helpful your contacts can be if you are proactive with helping people out.

What are some easy concrete ways you can do this? Send people articles you’d think they’d appreciate. Introduce people to one another if you think it would be mutually beneficial. Give free referrals. Be a mensch.

Bonus tips!

– Always have business cards in handy. Put some in your wallet and in your car.

– Blog

– If you find yourself all awkward in networking events, ask yourself, “What have I got to lose, and what have I got to  gain?”

– Contribute. Don’t be a lurker.

(No, I won’t spam you, subscribe now to Juan Great Leap!)

I have always found it easy to speak before a crowd, but I’ve always been a little bit on the shy side when it comes to one-on-one meetings with strangers.

It’s funny that I never really saw the value of effective networking when I was in Human Resources. As a startup owner though, I gradually found out how extremely critical it was to network effectively. Clients, suppliers, co-startup founders, mentors, friends, advice-mongers – you name it, I’ve found them all in networking.

We all know the cliché, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I used to scoff at this when I started working, having the image of a social butterfly in mind. I have discovered though, that it’s not like that at all. To be effective in business you NEED to have a good network.

The following tips are from my own personal experience on how to grow a network effectively.

1) Forget the “user” paradigm

This was my first hurdle – it was psychological. I had to get rid of the notion that I was trying to get to know a person because I wanted to “use” the other party. Of course, it’s partly true. The thing to remember is, it’s a two-edged sword. Yes, you want something from the person, but you are also trying to offer something of value to the other party. If establishing a great business relationship could be mutually exclusive to both of you, then why not?

2) LinkedIn Rocks!

I have always found that LinkedIn is miles away from Facebook when it comes to business networking. Isn’t it much easier to invite strangers (or accept invitations from strangers) than doing the same thing in Facebook? It’s because LinkedIn is an accepted business tool for networking with strangers. Three important things to remember in LinkedIn:

A) Reflect your accomplishments

LinkedIn is wonderful because it’s essentially your online resume – so when people visit your page, they know exactly what sort of value you can give them. Don’t give them a hard time guessing what you do. Say it straight. Use 2nd person. (3rd person sounds a bit too Lebron James) You’d be surprised at how many people will reach out to you through the social network once you’ve established your expertise.

B) Be a person

When inviting people, say something like:

“Hi, my name is Peter. A goal of mine is to network with great people in the industry, so I hope you don’t mind this humble invitation to connect. It’s my hope that you find some value in my own profile. Cheers!”

instead of the robotic template “I’d like to add you to my professional network – Peter Paul V. Cauton”

C) Above all, do not spam!

3) Think of quality AND quantity.

I’ve always been told something like, “10 quality contacts is better than 100 informal acquaintances.” Agreed. For sure.

You know what trumps 10 quality contacts, though?

100 quality contacts. 500 quality contacts trumps a hundred, too.

Yes, quality contacts are crucial, but with the advent of the internet and mobile tools, you can now establish and maintain a wider network of quality contacts.

How exactly do you get to that many quality contacts? Here’s a very important paradigm to take:

4) Be a conscious networker

This is a very important tip, and it’s helped my networking a lot. Networking needs to be a choice – something you allot a specific time of the week for. For example,  I have one hour in a week dedicated to just finding good contacts to network with in LinkedIn – so I easily add 10-15 people in my network through this.  Also, every week, I resolve to have at least one opportunity-seeking coffee talk. I usually ask old friends if we can have coffee, or someone I’ve had online exchanges with, or even a current client. These meetings can usually mean the start of an acquaintance becoming a “quality contact.”

Pay for the coffee. It’s worth it.

I’ve paid Starbucks a small fortune over the past few years. In fact, I was mildly amazed that last Wednesday, I was in three Starbucks shops (and ordered each time) in a span of 5 hours. Yes, the expenses creep up a bit, but when I think of it, ALL my ventures in the last 4-5 years started in a coffee shop. It’s all worth it.

Continued here!

(Like the content of Juan Great Leap? Subscribe now and never miss a post!)