Are you nervous to reach out to prospective sales prospects and partners? Does the idea of making sales calls conjure uneasiness or even a touch of dread? Do you stand in the corner at networking events or industry conferences, just waiting long enough so you won't feel too guilty when you duck out early? Or do you find excuses to skip them altogether, even though you know you want more people to engage with? You're not alone. Many salespeople, in fact, many people, avoid taking the first steps to start new relationships. It stems from an emotional lesson that we learn when we're young and that continues to influence our behavior … [Read more...]
How to Network Above Your Pay Grade and Move Up the Ladder Yourself
You might feel comfortable networking with your peers, but what about networking with professionals who are more senior in age, experience, job title, or reputation? It’s easy to think of networking as “peer-to-peer”, but the real world is rarely that simple. Learning how to interact and engage with people who are more established in their careers is a key skill. It’s the same conundrum that you face when looking for your first job: companies want to hire someone with experience, but how can you get experience if they won’t hire you? First of all, remember that you don’t need a network of CEOs and presidents to be successful. You can … [Read more...]
How to Avoid Being an Obnoxious Jerk on LinkedIn
Updated December 2018 LinkedIn has a problem. Or rather, it has a branding issue. You see, before online social networking came around, there was just regular old networking. You had to go out and meet people and have conversations with them. A lot of people hated networking. One of the main reasons: the obnoxious attendees that seemed to populate every networking breakfast and conference cocktail reception. In fact, one of the first Chamber of Commerce meetings I ever went to came complete with "Bill", a life insurance salesman who seemed to embody every negative stereotype possible, from the overly aggressive business card … [Read more...]
Internal Relationships Create a Well-Oiled Machine
It's common to talk about business with metaphors, and one of the most common compares a high-functioning business to a "well-oiled machine." It highlights the idea of different parts and pieces fitting together to create a moving whole that does something - more often than not, moving forward. Unfortunately, in their quest to build that well-oiled machine, most leaders ignore the most important piece of the puzzle. Let's get very specific about our well-oiled machine. Let's say it's a sports car, maybe a Ferrari. It has a top-of-the-line engine, race-quality tires, and steering and controls that respond to the lightest touch. Taken … [Read more...]
Are you the Right Kind of Networker?
What kind of networker are you? In my experience, people fall into one of two categories. It’s an incredibly important distinction. The professionals in the first category put in an enormous amount of effort and still fail miserably at building their network. Those in the second find their careers blossoming because of their business relationships. Transactional vs. Relational Networking The Transactional Networker The first type is the transactional networker. People that follow this philosophy see networking as a series of brief encounters. And the goal of each encounter is to get something from it. These are the people at … [Read more...]
Someone in my Network is Talking Smack about Me!
"Don't wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it." - Mark Twain I was talking with my massage therapist the other day, and as often happens, our conversation turned toward business development. At one point (right when she was working on the knot in my right shoulder), she shares, "Someone in my networking is bad-mouthing me, and I don't know what to do!" This is a big problem for her, because as a solo practitioner, she gets all of her clients on her own. She has built up a robust business solely on relationships in our community - both through client referrals and from the recommendations of various centers of … [Read more...]
Relationships are the New Job Security
If you haven’t noticed, the way the world works has changed a lot. Daily life is going to be a lot different for my children than it was for my parents. In times of change, we yearn for security. Unfortunately, the places that we’ve traditionally found security – career, families, culture - are where most of the changes are happening. One area this is obvious is the lack of traditional job security. Flexibility = Insecurity From a historical perspective, it was way easier when you knew that someday you would take your parent’s job. Millers milled, Porters ported, Smiths smithed (I’m pretty sure I know what my forefathers did for a … [Read more...]