Many of us don’t like doing it; and when we do it, we are not very good at it, and yet networking is one of the most effective marketing strategies there is, as commercial markets of all nature become increasingly driven by relationships. It is a fact that poorly connected companies are slower to respond to market needs, whereas those who are active at building relationships lead the market. In the latter the individuals are seen as having powerful personal skills, and the company is regarded as having a valuable organizational competence.

Networking is about gathering information and developing relationships, what Stephen Ginsberg described in the Washington Post as “…building social capital…” However, before setting about it we need to:

• Be proactive about meeting new contacts, setting ourselves targets of new relationships and clients that we will develop

• Decide on the best places, events and locations to network

• Know why we are networking and what information will be valuable

At a networking event it is important that we focus on spending time with people we don’t know and not heading for those that we do. When we meet somebody new it is also worth having a well-rehearsed introduction. Many of us take too long to say who we are, and the first impression we give is an off-putting one. The introduction should last about fifteen seconds (approximately thirty to forty words), and leave the listener ‘leaning in’ – in other words wanting to ask us questions.

When this happens the ice is broken and we have a conversation underway! However, establishing a conversation flow is not always easy. In his excellent book ‘Endless Referrals’, Bob Berg suggests a few questions that we should memorize, and these are ones that most people will enjoy answering. These include:

• How did you get started in the business and what do you enjoy most about it?

• What advice would you give someone starting up in your line of business?

• What significant changes have you seen through the years and what do you see as the forthcoming trends?

• What one thing would you do with your business, if you knew it wouldn’t fail?

• What one sentence would you like others to use in describing your business?

These are good questions that can give you valuable insights and useful information. At this point it is probably worth briefly mentioning business cards. Do not thrust them at people; wait until you are invited to do so or have had a conversation with them. One good non-aggressive way to give your card is to ask for their card – then swap. Make sure that your business card is professional and of good quality – it is your personal marketing statement and ambassador, and tells a story about you! Leave the back of the card plain so that people can record information on it.

After you have attended the event, make notes on the people you met and any personal details you picked up, like regular vacation places or a love of walking! Next time you meet them you may be able to include them in the conversation, and it is the inclusion of this level of detail that will help to build the relationship. Above all, once you have made a new contact through networking in whatever format, make sure you reconnect with them – reconnection must become part of your daily routine. Give it a try, follow some of the simple rules set out in this article and see for yourself what benefits networking can bring to you and to your organization!

By Linda Harland

The PEOPLE Academy, Inc

Some things are just meant to be. I just finished reading a great interview with Roy Spence author of the new “It’s Not What You Sell. It’s What You Stand For.” In it he describes the success of several great companies who continue to succeed even in today’s rough economic climate. He credits their ability to define their purpose - the difference you are trying to make in the world. Not touchy feely but a serious way of approaching bottom line decisions.

I imagine myself not unlike you. A little spinning trying to catch the catchable while the wind blows as bad as the economy - juggling feathers in a spring Nor’easter. Business if not gone away is in neutral idling for some sort of signal that it IS okay to make a decision about tomorrow. Remembering too that no decision is in fact a decision itself; and not one without consequences.

I’ll be honest. We have struggled a bit over the past two quarters as we scrambled to adapt to the complete and utter change that just showed up. It was really (seemingly) that quick. Things that were for sure now weren’t and the unsure things just vanished. So you scramble the flight deck and launch what you know. We have been able to stay afloat and even inch ahead a bit. We have never done any direct to consumer product and we have a glorious little tome coming out later this month (more on that some other day). Good things do come from the challenge of change. However I am not sure that this one was on purpose.

The point is that we focused on product, reaching into gut for the sense of direction. (I think a lot about gut and happen to love mine). Our marketing messages continued to focus either on product (yuck!) or to some degree end user benefit (smaller yuck! but yuck! nonetheless). In the building momentum of recent history I really have not been able to gain the space I usually need to clarify. And then I read his interview.

Purpose - the difference you are trying to make in the world. Really - why did you get into business in the first place? How many times have you asked a client that very question? Time to ask yourself - I did.

I joined this company because I believed in the difference Toni was trying to make for people in the world (of work originally). Now, we never verbalized it in exactly those terms but exercising the ideas from “purpose” that is exactly the genesis of The PEOPLE Academy when Toni formed its predecessor nearly 15 years ago. Coming from the faceless, nameless (read unhuman) organizational environments so many of us are familiar with she decided that there could be, should be, ways of accomplishing great organizational success using the power of people and their knowledge, ideas and investment in outcomes that matter.

She started a company based on the deeply held belief that one could make a difference in the way people experienced work and that experience could reach beyond the organizational parking lot all the way home. The success of that purpose is evident in the fact that The Academy has been around for 15 years. Over that time we have evolved the business model more away from direct delivery ourselves and closer to product development that supports those coaches, trainers, mentors, and others who do direct delivery. The power of the approaches was so universal that it is used extensively by those in private coaching now was well.

I mean it IS the PEOPLE Model, right?

The heart of those products hold the passion of the original purpose - that we CAN make a difference. I remember in the early years the Toni tears that would well inside a story of an assembly line woman who had told Toni that never (and I mean NEVER) had someone at work asked her what she thought. It was a successful company on many measures but I wonder at the lack of upside or longer vision (by the way they are REALLY hurting right now). And no, it doesn’t make me feel good. What kind of question was that anyway?

The purpose of all this is exactly that - purpose. You will see a more intentional rememberance of our purpose going forward. A rethinking of the website and other vehicles we use to tell our story. It is not about the products. They are the way in which we fulfill our purpose (mission). But they are not our purpose. I forgot that. You may have too in your own right.

And so tomorrow as we continue to create the HOWs I will certainly be keeping the ‘difference we know we can make’ in facilitating dignity at work and in life (engaging the human element and making people people again).

I am really glad I learned to read. Now go away . . . and think on Purpose. And don’t forget the wine.

Jim

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimreece

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