Networking: Be an Asset NOT a Liability
“How do you network and then follow-up without being annoying?” First of all, I’m glad someone even asked me this question because a lot of times people don’t even care about being annoying… its ALL about them. “Tell me how you did it…Give me a job…Be my mentor…Let me shadow you…Introduce me to others that can help me…Let me know if you see any opportunities for me elsewhere…” See a pattern here? Most times when people are networking or have informational meetings, they never think about the person they are meeting with, only what they want to get out of the exchange.
In my career I’ve found it to be really important to listen and ask questions. I call it active networking — figure out how you can be an asset to someone, instead of a liability on their time. I figured this out totally by accident. During my internship at TNT Marketing, the woman responsible for Brand Development always intrigued me. She did her own thing, worked on projects different from everyone else and much of it was strategic and creative — providing the foundation that everything was built on. So I sent up an informational meeting with her to learn more about her role.
At that meeting she told me her background, how she got to where she was, the types of things she was working on. She was very gracious with her time. Then I asked what was keeping her up a night? What were her points of pain or challenges work-wise? She told me about her challenge of connecting with young ad sales representatives that didn’t really watch TNT, yet they were charged with selling it to advertisers. She wanted to find a way to organically connect them to the TNT brand. Many of them were at the life stage where they were having their first child, buying their first home or getting married for the first time. The task, how do we create dramatic occasion kits to send to these reps at the pivotal points in their lives?
I was intrigued and immediately my creative mind went to work. That night I went home, got pencil and paper and drew my ideas — a here comes drama baby onesie, a drama king and drama queen robe set, wine charms with the elements of drama, a Drama Is wedding picture frame. The next day I followed-up with her to show my drawings and explain my thinking. She was impressed at the speed I came back with ideas and my ability to be both creative and strategic — making something relevant to the audience that was also feasible based on budget.
That informational meeting taught me SO much. It helped shape my career and passion for brand strategy, I gained not only a mentor but also a life-long friend and it positioned me for a brand development job years later… all without me asking for any of it.
Mel’s Musings:
Not every networking experience or informational meeting will go the same way, but here are a few tips that have worked for me along the way.
- Following up — Be quick and relevant: After you meet someone at a networking event or have an informational meeting, there is a brief window where you can follow up and they still may remember who you are…capitalize on it. Plus if someone shares a challenge with you, the sooner you help them find a solution, the more quickly you become an asset.
- Don’t make it all about you: Take the time to learn about the other person. Everyone likes talking about themselves, so let them do it and listen. Definitely share a bit about yourself too, but the more you full court press your own agenda, you may hurt your chances of really building a mutual, authentic relationship.
- If you don’t feel a connection…don’t force it: Some people you network with may not turn out to be who you thought they would, and that’s ok. Don’t feel the need to force a relationship if you aren’t really feeling the other person. It important that its authentic and go for quality not quantity.
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