There's a cart. And there's a horse. One of the most important things you can do in any professional endeavor is to put those two in the proper order. That's certainly true when you build a network of professional relationships. Too often, professionals start "networking" without asking a few important questions. Before you dive into building and maintaining your network, you want to put a plan in place. Think of this as a marketing plan for “You, Inc.” A good networking plan acts as a map, so you know the best direction to focus your efforts. Instead of making it up as you go along (and getting haphazard results), you’ll outline a … [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...]
5 Ways to Incorporate LinkedIn into Your Offline Networking
When I talk to professionals about social media, I often get a litany of complaints (especially from veterans in the industry): "It's a waste of time!" "All I see is kids on their cell phones all the time - I don't have room in my schedule for that!" "The next generation is going to have a hard time talking to people because they're so used to just texting everything or Facebooking their life!" Even though each of these has some measure of truth, I also hear a little bit of jealousy as well. Those born after 1980 are considered digital natives because they've grown up with technology integrated into their lives. It's easy for them … [Read more...]
The Right Way to Make a Networking Introduction
Remember "connecting the dots" when you were a kid? Starting with a page full of random points, you ran a line from dot to dot (following the numbers, of course) and got a picture of a flower, animal, or your favorite cartoon character. The "hidden" picture had revealed itself and you had a piece of art to hang on the refrigerator. Good networkers approach professional relationship-building in the same way. They find ways to make connections to create something that wasn't there before. One of the most fulfilling parts of networking is making connections between two people who could benefit from knowing each other. When you look … [Read more...]
Why I Think it’s Dumb to Not Use Business Cards
I was at a conference sponsored by a large high-tech firm, and because they were a high-tech firm, they were going to be fancy and high-tech and put QR codes on everyone's namebadge with their contact info. In theory, you would scan the QR code with your smartphone and download their info directly and this would make networking more efficient. In practice it was a pain in the ass. I got tired of aiming my phone at someone's badge and trying to keep everyone physically still enough for it to work. And it was a huge interruption in the flow of the conversations I was having. And then there was the afternoon my phone battery … [Read more...]
Quickly Boost Your Networking Results with This Simple Checklist
Over the past 15 years, I’ve found that people either love the idea of business networking or they think it’s a complete waste of time. How is it that some people build flourishing businesses based on the power of their network, while others fail to build any sort of connections at all? After helping hundreds of professionals leverage business networking to build their careers, I’ve found that most struggle for a few simple reasons. If your networking isn’t as effective as you would like it to be, it's important to figure out where the block is. The 3 Networking Questions to Ask Yourself If you are struggling to build a network that … [Read more...]
5 Important Networking Tips You Can Steal from Your Dating Life
If you have ever stepped back and watched the action at a business networking event, the resemblance to a singles bar is uncanny (and slightly unnerving). Think about it, there's a bunch of people wandering around, nervously approaching people they don’t know because they’re hoping to meet that special someone that will make their life better. And most prefer to stay with the group of people they already know (or by the bar) because it's more comfortable. Professional networking has a lot of similarities to dating - which shows you why a lot of people don't like networking, because let's face it, dating is hard. But if we look at the … [Read more...]