Networking Insight

Become a Resource to Grow Your Network

One of the best ways to grow your network is to become a resource for others.  It is important that you find ways to help other people before you ask for help. Acting as a resource for other people’s needs is a key to building quality and long-term relationships.

To become a resource, you need to listen to the needs of others and act on them. Assist people however and whenever you can so you can help them move forward in their life or career.

The more that you help people the better your reputation will become. Word will spread quickly that you are someone good to know.  As a result, people will want to associate themselves with you so your network will naturally grow. Over time, people will reciprocate and help you as well.

Below are few ways that you can act as a resource for your network:

• Build a Website of resources for your industry
• Author a blog with information about your industry
• Connect people together as much as you can
• Find information for people
• Direct people to other resources
• Provides some free advice
• Host your own events to bring people together
• Create a newsletter that provides valuable information

Whatever you end up doing, make sure that you are consistent in helping others with your resources.

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The Power of Email to Stay in Touch

Email is a wonderful tool to keep in touch with people. As you know, email is the primary communication mode for business professionals. While you don’t want to lose the personal touch with face-to-face interaction, this post will only focus on the power of email.

Reach Out to Multiple People at Once

One of the great aspects of email is that you can keep in touch with many people at once.  You can send a message that reaches as many people as you want by the click of a button. What other tool allows you do this? 

Send and Reply on Your Own Time

Email is great because you can send and reply to messages on your own time.  You are giving people the option of responding when they are ready as well. In a world of fast paced business, it is good to be less intrusive and give people more space and control.

Leverage Newsletters

Email newsletters are an amazing way to regularly provide value to your network.  My newsletter, “Networking Your Way to Success”, is a great tool that I send out monthly to keep in touch with my contacts.

You need to always find ways to stay in front of people so create a newsletter that provides valuable information. Don’t oversell your company in the newsletter. Always provide valuable information first.

Share Valuable Information

Email allows you to share important information with others such as a Website link or attached document.  With the ease of sending data, email is a quick and easy way to send information to individuals. People will appreciate that you are thinking about them and following through on what you said.

Acknowledge Others

When you want to send off a quick acknowledgment to thank someone or wish a Happy Birthday, email is an excellent tool.  Similar to sending valuable information, people will appreciate your thoughts about them.

What other ways do you leverage email to keep in touch?

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Reasons to Leverage Your Relationships to Your Advantage

One of the most important reasons for continuously building relationships is so you can leverage them when the time is right. Of course, you should always help others first. If you do this and people are happy with you, then you will have no problem reaching out and asking for help.

Keep in mind that you should never selfishly build relationships. Don’t keep it one sided by only careing about what people can do for you. That is the wrong approach and it won’t get you anywhere. Below are some ways that you can leverage your network to your advantage:

• Find new clients in your network
• Receive referrals for client prospects
• Receive referrals for potential partners
• Get introduced to new quality contacts
• Find potential employees
• Find investment capital
• Find out about industry resources
• Demonstrate your expertise
• Ask for guidance or resources
• Connect people together

What other ways can you leverage your network?

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How to Build a Sizable and Quality Network

Your social capital (the people you know) is extremely important in today’s fast paced world.  Relationships are everything when it comes to business. That is a big reason why I spend so much of time and effort interacting with people. 

Keep in mind that it is not the size of your network that is most important but rather the quality of individuals that you associate yourself with. 

Be Seen in the Community

It is of utmost importance that you show yourself in your community. Attend events and interact with people. Do this on a regular basis so you get to know people better and are constantly meeting new people. Over time, you will have built a large network based on this activity alone.

Reach Out to Your Network

A quality network doesn’t happen overnight so you need to find ways to reach out to people. Create a newsletter or blog so you are constantly sharing valuable information to people. Invite people out for coffee or lunch so you can see them in person from time to time. Send articles of interest in various individuals.  The point is that you need to always be in front of people.

Brand Yourself as an Expert

Focus on branding yourself as an expert on a particular topic. Once you decide on the expertise you want to be known for, let people know as much as you can by speaking at events, writing articles, publishing a blog, etc.  The more consistently you let people know your expertise, the more you will brand yourself as an expert.

Display Good Character

You want people to see you as a trustworthy and dependable person so make sure that you adhere to this standard at all times.  When you say you will do something, you better follow through. Always act in an honorable way and treat people how you want to be treated.  People will want to be associated with you if you act in this way, thus, allowing you to grow your network.

Build a Database

As you meet people, you need to decide on which ones you would like to integrate into your network. It is impossible to maintain a quality relationship with everyone you meet. My goal is to meet 1-2 quality folks at an event that I can add to my network. You need to make sure that you are organized so put contact information in an electronic format so you can search and pull up names. Categorize people by industry or function so you can quickly pull up information. Take good notes from meetings and discussions with people and add to each person’s profile. This will be helpful for future conversations.

What other techniques do you use?

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Roll Up Your Sleeves and Work Hard for Your Relationships

Building relationships is no easy task. It takes a lot of hard work, discipline, and commitment. With the appropriate amount of time dedicated to this activity, you will be in a better position professionally.

Like most things in life, you need to work hard and get dirty to see the results.  In fact, you can’t always see the outcome of your efforts right away. The same is true with networking.

Networking is a continuous process of building and managing sustainable relationships over the long term.  Relationships are not meant to happen overnight. So, you have to always be thinking of ways to meet people and to keep in touch with the new people whom you meet.

You need to be proactive and make things happen. Don’t expect everyone to reach out to you.

Below are some ideas to think about that will help you build relationships:

• Talk to people at events who are standing by themselves
• Work the room at an event and talk to multiple people
• Compliment and thank people often
• Send personal handwritten notes
• Invite people to lunch or coffee
• Share stories or industry information
• Create an email newsletter
• Create a Website or blog
• Host your own events and invite your network
• Be genuine at all times

As you can see with the above list, you will be busy!  You can’t be selfish when it comes to building relationships. Spend the time now helping others and making yourself standout. In the beginning, you will have to take more time planting the seeds. If you do it right, then people will start coming to you and you won’t have to spend as much time building relationships. It will become a two-way activity.

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Can Your Network Be Too Big?

One of my readers posed the following question:

Is there a number of individuals that (above which) sustaining and maintaining this network is impossible?

My answer is “no” because you will always meet people.  You just have to know how to manage the relationships. Also, you should focus more on quality than quantity when choosing the people you want to integrate into your network.

As your network grows, you will have a harder time remembering everyone so you can deploy the following two strategies:

1) Keep in touch with everyone in a shot gun approach by creating a newsletter

2) Keep in touch with individuals by periodically meeting them, sending them valuable information, or staying in front of them through other methods

As long as you stay in front of people on a regular basis, you can manage a growing database of contacts. However, you know your limits so build your network to your comfort level.

One way to scale your network is to get to know “power connectors” really well and integrate them into your network. These are the people who know many more people than you will ever know.  So, when you need an introduction, they can open up their network and help.

In addition, it is a good idea every few months to review your network contact list to determine if any should be removed from your database. This way, your information will be up to date with people you remember.

Leverage Your Friend's Network for Referrals

One of the most common ways that we find service providers is by asking our friends.  By leveraging the networks of our friends, we can find attorneys, insurance agents, accountants, doctors, and mortgage brokers.  It is important to get a referral from someone who has experienced the work of the service provider.  Testimonials are the gold standard when it comes to picking people to hire.  This is the way that Angie's List works.

While this may be self explanatory, you will be amazed at how many people just pick a name out of the phone book.   While you can get lucky in finding someone this way, I wouldn't suggest this method.  Every service provider that I have chosen, except for one, came from a referral.  When I first moved to Chicago after college, I needed renter's insurance.  Rather than asking for a referral, I responded to a mailer from an agent.  I got lucky and have put virtually all of my insurance through him.  Over time, we have built a good relationship so I feel comfortable with him.

Another reason to ask for referrals is that you can make your contacts look good if you use one of their recommendations.  The beauty of relationship building is helping others so people should open up their networks when appropriate.

In a few days, I will be moving to a new house. In fact, I will be moving out of Chicago and into the suburbs.  I am expecting a new baby next month so my family and I wanted to have a bigger house with a yard.  I have been living in Chicago for 10 years so I will hate to leave. 

Why am I mentioning this?  It is because the moving process is a pain and you need to have a lot of good people involved to help you.  I was referred to every person who I used for this process, which includes: real estate agent, attorney, mortgage broker, and accountant.  By having these professionals referred to you, it should make you feel more comfortable when you have a big life change.

Do you have any good or bad stories to share about picking service providers?

Memorial Day Networking

I hope that you are enjoying your Memorial Day holiday.  This time of the year is a great time to relax and enjoy hanging out with your family and friends.   While you should have several days away from the office, don't miss any opportunities to re-connect with individuals.

In my prior post Re-Connect During the Holiday Season, I discuss how the holidays are an important time to re-establish and build relationships.  Your old friends should be in town if their parents still live in your home town.  In my case, I don't live in the same town as my parents anymore.  So, whenever I visit, I try to see an old friend from high-school or college.  While I know that it can be difficult to do this every time, I make an effort most of the time.

Over the weekend, I played golf at my childhood course, which is also where I worked during high school and part of college. What is amazing to me is that some of the retired guys that were working there with me almost 15 years ago are still there.  So, it was great seeing them and catching up.  They were all interested in learning about my life.  Once of the last time's they saw me, I was still in college.  Now, I am married, have 1 child with another one of the way, and live in Chicago.

Next time I come back to my hometown, Mequon, in Wisconsin, I will look them up.  They extended an invitation for me to connect with them when I am back.  It is nice when people treat you this way.  So, make sure to treat people how you would like to be treated.

There are No Free Lunches, Unless Someone Invites You

Whenever you invite someone to coffee, lunch, or dinner, make sure to offer to pick up the tab.  It is common courtesy for the person doing the inviting to pay for the meal.  Chances are that most people will not let you pay for the entire bill. 

You should still insist that you would like to pay, however, don't fight it if the other person is not comfortable with the situation.  To make people feel more comfortable, mention they can pick up the tab next time.  Most people, including me, don't keep track of who should pay when.  Just pay when it makes sense.

Recently, a friend of mine was invited to a nice lunch by someone.  The person doing the inviting didn't offer to pick up the bill but rather he suggested that they split the charge.  My friend probably wouldn't have made him pick up the entire bill, however, he was disappointed that the other person didn't offer.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a meal for someone, then don't pick a very expensive place. You can pick something middle of the road. Your main concern should be to pick a location that is a comfortable environment to get to know someone better.

Do you have any bad etiquette stories during meal time to share?

Executive Book Summary - Wikinomics

It is important that you manage your network and communicate with people on a regular basis.  So, you need to think of creative ways to stay in front of people.  An easy way to remain in touch is to email information of interest to various people in your network such as industry information, events, and articles.  People will appreciate that you took the time to think of them.

I want to share with you one technique that one of my contact's uses.  About every month, Rob Peters of Kanbay sends me Executive Book Summaries, which summarize popular business books.  Reading business books is very important for keeping on top of current business trends.  Plus, they make great conversation pieces.

Anyways, Rob just sent me a summary on the book Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams.  Coincidentally, I am in the middle of reading this interesting book.  To read the Executive Book Summary, click on this link: Download Wikinomics_Soundview.pdf.

I am impressed with Rob's thoughtfulness.  It shows that he cares about his relationships because he takes the time to send this information.