My friend and former co-worker Sheila had just decided to go into consulting, focusing on online and Search marketing, and she wanted to get my advice on what had worked for me in getting new Business (BTW, if you're looking for a search and online marketing expert, you should contact her at www.frugeconsulting.com). She had some great ideas for search optimization, partner strategies, etc., but I told her I had done a lot of that when I first started TopSprout, and when it came down to it, I found most of my business through networking. Unfortunately, for many businesses, it's a strategy that they don't do enough of.
What's ironic is that Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking websites have made it so easy to stay in touch and reach out to friends and colleagues. I get instant notifications of friends' kids hitting home runs in their Little League baseball games or hearing how someone is sharing carrot bushels in Farmville. But in the business world, I think a lot of people are still afraid of really leveraging and getting the most out of their network.
I'm also a scaredy-cat.
When I started TopSprout, like Sheila I had grand visions of being the marketing consultant that everyone knew and getting business from Google, partners, you name it. But now almost 2 years after starting TopSprout, 100% of my business has been because of my network. For many businesses, I think it's the same story. And I strongly believe that if you leverage your network, revenue will follow.
Why are people scared of networking? Here are the most common things I faced and that I also heard from others:
What's ironic is that Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking websites have made it so easy to stay in touch and reach out to friends and colleagues. I get instant notifications of friends' kids hitting home runs in their Little League baseball games or hearing how someone is sharing carrot bushels in Farmville. But in the business world, I think a lot of people are still afraid of really leveraging and getting the most out of their network.
I'm also a scaredy-cat.
When I started TopSprout, like Sheila I had grand visions of being the marketing consultant that everyone knew and getting business from Google, partners, you name it. But now almost 2 years after starting TopSprout, 100% of my business has been because of my network. For many businesses, I think it's the same story. And I strongly believe that if you leverage your network, revenue will follow.
Why are people scared of networking? Here are the most common things I faced and that I also heard from others:
- It takes a lot of effort: there's no doubt about it - reaching out to people and meeting with them takes time. There's time to write or call, set up a meeting, meet and follow up. For just one person in your network, it could take several hours just to have one face-to-face meeting.
- Hearing "no:" nobody likes hearing no. And when you're reaching out to your network, this could happen, especially with people's busy schedules.
- It seems one-sided: what are you bringing to the table? Sometimes both sides of the network have something that they both can use, but more often than not, it's just you trying to "get" something from your contact.
- There are easier things to do: setting up Google AdWords, direct mail, email newsletters are all things that you should invest in. And they seem so easy. Just a few hours here and there, and you're done. So much easier than reaching out to all your contacts.
- It sometimes has no immediate payback: so you've met up with the CEO of Acme Industries and had a great chat. Now what? Sometimes there is NO now what.
- Consolidate your contact lists: even in this age of iPhones, Facebook and LinkedIn, I found my contacts scattered all over the place. The first thing I did was consolidate all my contacts so I could figure out who I knew. Yes, I admit it, I used Excel.
- Tier your contacts: next I figured out who would be most "valuable" to my work. I used criteria like level of familiarity, seniority, relevance, etc. to determine who made the most sense to reach out to initially.
- Determine how you're going to reach out to your network: for each person you want to reach out to, I then figured out how I wanted to approach them. For some, I wanted to meet them in person, so that would involve personal emails and phone calls. For others, I added them to my bi-monthly newsletters to stay fresh in their minds.
- Get your story down: when someone asked me what I do, I made sure I got my story down (unless I was meeting them to get their feedback). Otherwise, it leads to confusion and uncertainty on how they could help.
- Figure out what you want: before I actually called or emailed anyone, I had to figure out what I really wanted from the interaction. Was it hearing their feedback, finding out more about a potential opportunity, learning more about a company, etc.?
- Follow up, follow up, follow up: this is by far the hardest step. People are busy, and to be honest, I'm not high in their list of priorities! Sometimes I think I'm pretty annoying - and I'm sure some people would agree. But I force myself to keep plugging away.
