Networking Insight

Consistency is Key for Relationship Building

In order for relationship building to work effectively and over the long term, you need to be consistent with your activities. Your activities can include your personal branding efforts, your frequency of attending events, or your willingness to help others.

Whatever you do, do it often and in the same consistent manner. People will remember you for this and it will lead to new opportunities. People like to do business with people who they trust. As you know, trust takes a long time to build. Below are a few activities to think about.

Your Personal Brand
From blogging to speaking, be consistent in what you do for your own brand. The more you regularly let people know about “you”, the more memorable you will become. Make it a regular part of your routine.

Attending Events
One of the best ways to meet new people is to attend events. Make sure that you go to several events a month.  The more opportunities you have to meet people, the better you can build your network. Also, as you frequent events, you will see some of the same people. So, leverage these opportunities to build existing relationships.

Follow-Up and Follow Through
After you meet people for the first time, make sure that you follow-up if you want to build a relationship. Also, if you offer to help someone, then make sure that you follow through. The more consistent you are with these, the better you will be to build relationships. Generally, people will only want you in their network if you are genuine and provide value.

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Personal Branding Magazine - Gold Rush - Free Sample

The latest edition of Personal Branding Magazine, "Personal Branding Gold Rush", will be available on November 1.  As I mentioned previously, I have been a writer for this magazine in the past. It is definitely worth a read. Personal branding is one of the pillars of networking.

Here are some of the magazine details per the editor, Dan Schawbel who writes the popular Personal Branding Blog:

Description:  Volume 2, Issue 2 is a call to action.  Now is the time for building your personal eBrand. Laggards will be lost in a Google cloud of dust, while early adopters will rank #1 for their name.  Stop watching everyone else steal your gold (your THUNDER) and get involved today.  Many people are scared to develop an online presence, yet it's the only way you can safeguard your brand and have "job security."  This issue will highlight Gary Vaynerchuk, who will passionately force you to get involved in the GOLD RUSH.  As you read each page, you will gather the knowledge needed to not let these opportunities pass you by.

Interviews: Gary Vaynerchuk, David Allen, Keith Ferrazzi and Robert Cialdini

By The Numbers:  26 articles and 11 sponsors

The magazine is very reasonable priced at $12.95 per year for 4 issues. To get a free sample of the latest edition, go to Personal Branding Sample. I encourage you to subscribe to this magazine.

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The Ultimate Networking Mindset

In order to experience success with networking, you need to be patient.  You don’t want to come across as desperate or too pushy.  Therefore, spend time cultivating relationships and get to know people.  Treat each person as a long term relationship, which should get better over time as you get to know each other.

With the right mindset, who knows where networking could take you.  Here are ten thoughts on how you can achieve and sustain this mindset:

1.  Have the “pay-it-forward” mindset – offer to help others first
2.  Don’t feel entitled to a return favor – it will happen when the time is right
3.  Enjoy helping others – shouldn’t be a burden
4.  Don’t sell your product/service before you get to know the other person
5.  Connect people together
6.  Find ways to stay in front of people via a newsletter, events, articles, etc.
7.  Get together with people on a regular basis
8.  Treat people with respect
9.  Don’t rush any relationship
10.  Be honest

With the right attitude, you will benefit from your networking efforts. You will be able to connect with like-minded people who will make relationship building all that more exciting.  Believe it or not, many people do exist who enjoy helping one another.  These folks have built an impressive and diverse network because of their giving nature.

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10 Bad Conversation Starters

With my prior post, 10 Good Conversation Starters, I shared some topics that can help spark conversations. However, there are some topics that are off limits when getting to know people.  If you bring up these topics, then you are risking getting into a heated discussion and failing to get to know each other in a neutral way. In addition, you should want all of your conversations be about happy thoughts.

Below are 10 topics that you should stay away from:

1. Politics
2. Religion
3. Sex
4. Economy (depends on what is happening)
5. Buying your products/services (don't want to be too pushy)
6. Negativity about other people
7. Complaints about life and/or career
8. Leaving your company (if it hasn’t happened yet)
9. Drugs and/or drinking in excess
10. Criminal activity

What other topics are off limits?

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LinkedIn Lands Another $22.7 Million

Online professional networking powerhouse, LinkedIn, has raised another $22.7 million in funding bringing its total to more than $100 million through several rounds. LinkedIn's growth has not slowed down, which has over 30 million users.

While its user base is small compared to MySpace and Facebook, it is still impressive because it captures a sought after audience - business professionals (and ones who spend money). Its average member is 41 years old and earns about $110,000 a year.

For more on this story, go to LinkedIn raises another $22.7 million.

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Book Review: Saving the World at Work by Tim Sanders

Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference is a new book by author and speaker Tim Sanders. Tim is also the author of Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends, which is one of the best networking books that I have ever read. In addition, Tim has written The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams. The common theme with all of Tim’s books is human behavior. Tim teaches his readers how to assess their personalities and situations and then he provides guidance on how to make a difference.

With Saving the World at Work, Tim brings up a very relevant and global issue that is on the minds of most people these days, which is sustainability. How do we change our behaviors and our firm’s behaviors to truly make a difference? 

Book Content
It is important that you get a good understanding of what content is covered in this book so below are the major parts of this book.

Part I: The Responsibility Revolution
Part II: The Saver Soldier
Part III: The Practice of Being Good

Each section has several chapters that lay it all out on the line as to what is currently happening and what can be done. Let’s face it, our world is changing and people need to start taking better care of themselves and the environment around them. Responsibility is a key differentiator for you and your business.

Tim’s book is motivational and inspiring because it provides numerous suggestions of how you can get involved with your organization through volunteering, change management, strategy, etc. A happy employee will contribute to the success of an organization. In fact, Tim encourages individuals to make changes in their personal lives as well. We can all make a difference at home and in our communities.

Throughout the book, Tim provides real world examples of how people and organizations have impacted industries and the world.  Tim mentions that firms can do a better job of eliminating waste and giving back to their communities. Many of these initiatives can be driven by individuals that eventually will cause change within an entire organization. Whatever people and firms decide to do, we can all do more to help the world.

My Take on the Book
Tim’s conversational writing style makes this book an easy read. Also, he provides actionable advice that is very helpful if you choose to make a change in your life.  Further, Tim illustrates many of his points with real corporate examples.

Many of Tim’s ideas, such as printing on both sides of printer paper, are easy for most people to implement immediately. Regardless of your take on the whole “green” movement, it is not going away. Tim is an educator and advocate on how important this movement is at the forefront of corporate agendas. 

The book is worth a read if you want to gain a fuller perspective on what is happening and how you can make a difference in the world

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Deal Making & Networking by Adrie Reinders

Adrie Reinders, who I met recently, provided the following article about networking. He is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of E.Factor, which is a vibrant online community and virtual marketplace designed for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.

Deal Making

Deal making is a phenomenon that is seldom given the spotlight. Personally, I think it is one of the most exciting things to do.

Deal making is networking and connecting to the highest degree. With networking, it is often not clear yet why people connect and therefore more or less non-committal. You don't know yet what it is that you can achieve together but there is the willingness to explore further. Sometimes these connections are for the short term only - where a real relationship does not get the chance to develop. If it is longer term - people can end up doing business together, depending on factors such as "click" and timing.

Deal making to me is the ultimate form of networking and connecting. You have a very specific objective, and a clear agenda - the art is in finding the other parties that can help you achieve your objective although each will have a different agenda and goal based on their core business. And to top it all, timing is ofcourse an immensely important factor. Particularly in this time, where money is tight due to economic struggles, deal making for me is a great challenge of the mind.

Most of the deals I have been involved in, are related to building IT companies. For instance, the need to get a controlling majority in a quoted company in order to do a reverse take over, but also fundraising for an IT company, preparing a buy-out and organising business development for a company in order to have it grow faster.

The number of people involved in these type of major deals is often extremely large and varied - you have bankers, investors, management of the organizations involved and board members who typically are dealing with questions such as who will make the most money, whose egos are involved and who will be assigned most of the power. Then there are the emotions of employees - in short - a high-pressure vat with interests and emotions of all parties at stake. As a leader in this process it is a matter of being tough some of the time, massaging and cajoling the other - so it is all important to get to know as much as possible about all the players involved, and getting to know them well. The better you accomplish this, the better the outcome will be.  The more unknown players in the game - the harder it will be to predict the outcome.

As I have raised before - connecting is about ensuring that you establish Trust. You have to get to know people over a period of time and gain mutual experience in order to establish a trust relationship.

Deal making is truly like a Chess game - you have to estimate (but preferably based on as much 'knowing' as possible) the moves of the other players. If you don't, it'll be more like a poker game. Which would you rather be playing with your company?

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10 Good Conversation Starters

When interacting with people at networking events, you want to make sure that you are a good conversationalist.  Don’t make people uncomfortable so only talk about topics that don’t require either of you to take a side. Below is a list of 10 topics that are good conversation starters. Not all topics need to be business related.

1. Hot new business book
2. New business trend
3. Economy
4. Employers
5. Hobbies
6. Family
7. Networking event/organization that brought you together
8. Business skills
9. Helping each other
10. Vacations

What other topics can you think of?

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Don’t Be Too Quick To Say “No”

With relationship building, you will meet a lot of people in various situations. As you get to know people, opportunities will present themselves to you. Don’t be too quick to say “No, I don’t have the time”.  Spend time thinking about what has been proposed. As you become someone who people respect and remember, you will be approached with ideas. Branding yourself is a great way for people to remember you.

Try to see the positive in every opportunity and say “yes” to as many as you can. Of course, you need to make sure that you are genuinely interested, otherwise, it may be a waste of your time. You never know where it could lead to so take a chance.

What are these opportunities you ask? I am referring to people asking you to write articles, plan an event, speak at an event, work on a project, etc. The fact that people took the time to think of you is an honor. More exposure is good because each new opportunity will provide you with the chance to meet new people.

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Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty – Get Involved!

Each year thousands of bloggers participate in Blog Action Day to generate awareness about a particular social topic.  This year’s theme is poverty. Poverty is a serious problem in the U.S. and more so around the world. So, how can networking help with poverty?

 

My simple advice is to get involved with your local food pantry and/or other charitable organizations dedicated to raising awareness and money to help those in need. Leverage your business expertise and compassion to help an organization reach its goals.

 

By getting involved, you will not only be doing a good deed, but also developing some great relationships.  Working with a non-profit allows you to get to know people in a non-business environment. You will be working together with others so you will get to know them on a personal level. 

 

Seasoned executives are usually involved in charities so you will be able to grow your network with these folks who are power connectors and influencers. 

 

Check out your local charitable organizations and get involved now!  

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