Building networks of people who can add value, share ideas and build collaborations or alliances should be one of your key goals, if you are going to succeed in any business or personal endeavour. Your networks will become a source of ideas, knowledge, support, motivation, channels to other networks, access to markets, and even revenue sources. How do you then set about building a network? The first step is to become a better networker by improving your networking skills and overcoming fear and low self-esteem. Following is a simple approach to networking:
- Identify networking opportunities and events such as meetings, luncheons, seminars and conferences. Target specific events with a topic of interest related to your definite purpose or goal.
- Take the responsibility to interact first. Remember the worst thing that can happen to you is a polite rejection. Network the room as much as possible. Don’t stick to a single person that you know, or remain alone at the outer perimeter of the room checking your phone, which is common amongst people with low self-esteem. Try to join a group of people who are already interacting or look for someone who is alone. The speakers at each event would make a great target list as well, because they are experts in their given field.
- Have a topic of interest to discuss. For example, use a topic from the seminar or conference, or ask the other person a question about their job or work. I always like to begin with “Hi, my name is John and I work for …”. After the other person responds with their name and organisation, I immediately follow with a question or statement related to the seminar or conference. If the networking occurs before the event I tend to ask a general question such as “Are you looking forward to listening to the speaker?”, “What attracted you to this seminar?” or “What do you do for a living?”. It is also a good idea to have a prepared 1 to 2 minute compelling “Elevator Pitch” describing what you do. For example, I start off by saying, “I put money into people’s pockets by helping them take their ideas to market”, which generally grabs the person’s attention.
- Exchange business cards or contact details. This is generally done during the introduction or after you have found out more about the person. Ensure that you offer your business card first as the other person will generally reciprocate. If the other person does not have a business card write their contact information in a notebook or on a piece of paper. Don’t forget to record their details, as soon as possible, in a contact database, together with notes about the person (especially their expertise or interests), where you met and any follow-up actions.
- Cultivate your relationship through maintaining regular contact. This could be done through the use of a combination of tools and processes, such as regular email, the online tool LinkedIn, a contact database or by periodically catching up face-to-face for coffee, lunch or at upcoming meetings and seminars. I use LinkedIn quite extensively as this allows me to build a network of people very easily. It also has an email function that allows me to send individual or group messages and a short message function linked to X. For more specific profile building of my contacts I use a Contact Management Database or CRM (e.g. Zoho CRM) linked to an email marketing platform (e.g. MailChimp). I always like to use a Relationship Maintenance Schedule for my more important contacts where I build in a schedule of activities including periodically sending my contacts articles of interest, links to interesting internet sites, or more importantly provide them with business leads and new business opportunities which can further strengthen our relationship.
- Become a network architect for others. The ultimate goal is to become the “go-to” person for introducing others to people you know. You essentially become the person of influence or thought leader for a given domain and its networks, by attracting like-minded individuals or people seeking knowledge, inspiration or new opportunities.
