Networking

I recently chatted with a former colleague and friend about some of the things I've learned about networking. This friend, after a few minutes, became pretty critical of the idea of generating business through networking. He'd had some experience with attending networking events put on by his local Chamber of Commerce, and wasn't convinced that it was worth the time that he put into it.

I have never been that dismissive about networking as a valuable activity. Nevertheless, I have only figured out how to do it myself in the last couple of years. What I came to recognize is that how you view the process is all-important not only to its effectiveness, but to how you feel about doing it. The important things to remember are:

1. Don't worry about selling yourself. You're there to meet others and learn all about them. If you meet a half-dozen new people, and don't tell anyone about yourself other than handing them your business card, you've accomplished your task.
2. This is a long-term effort that will NOT yield results quickly unless you get lucky. You need to make your face one that people see over and over again, and you need to have a "what can I do for you?" attitude. This includes (if it's a membership organization) serving on committees and volunteering frequently for tasks. My philosophy is that I should be serving on a committe or actively working on something on behalf of each organization of which I'm a member.

That first item was a big revelation to me. There's a lot less pressure when you don't have to pitch yourself or your company. Understanding this allowed me to be much more relaxed about networking opportunities and to look forward to, and enjoy them. I love listening to other people talk about what they're doing, and learning about their business, so this comes naturally to me.

I can't over-stress the importance of my second point above. One of the things that you gain by becoming involved with the local Chamber of Commerce, IT Professionals Council, CEO Roundtable or other business group is to become a familiar face. You will also, over time, become associated with a particular company and service or product. You will become recognized eventually as someone who is in it for the long haul, and someone who can be relied upon to get something done. It then becomes a short leap to ask you to do something professionally. However, this kind of reputation doesn't come just by joining; you need to attend regularly, participate and volunteer. If you devote four or five hours a month to this kind of activity, you could go a year or more before generating any tangible business. Thus you can't decide after six months that it isn't working and abandon the process. You might just be getting to the point where people are getting to know you, so it's not the time to give it up.

I'll pass along two good resources for learning more about networking. You can get a quick and dirty explanation of the key elements of how it's done on an outstanding post by Guy Kawasaki. Another, more comprehensive exploration can be found in the book Rain Making by Ford Harding. Harding's book goes into areas of interest to the person trying to market themselves and their company, but includes a lot of information on networking and building and nurturing business relationships.

Comments

[Ford Harding]

Thanks for the kind comments about my book, Rain Making. There is more on networking in my second book, Creating Rainmakers.