The Art of Making and Keeping Powerful Connections.
Networking (verb): interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since the start of 2015, it’s that networking is a powerful tool. Being social, talking to people and making connections is the most effective way to learn and grow, both personally and professionally. Nothing else comes close.
And yet, whenever I attend events around Manchester I’m often the youngest there. I’m a boy networking amongst men and women and it’s been that way for over a year.
Something isn’t right there.
Maybe it’s because young people haven’t been fully brought up to speed on the importance of networking, or maybe they feel like it’s a skill they’re not good enough at. In that case, it may be a confidence issue.
And that’s fine if it is, but then that means the majority of people my age are in a catch-22 situation.
“I’ve got no confidence because I’m not putting myself out there and networking, but I’m not putting myself out there and networking because I’ve got no confidence.”
Sometimes though, you’ve just got to bite the bullet and pull your nerves through the dirt. Once you’ve conquered that first, second and third attempt, it becomes second nature.
Attend events and conferences.
I don’t really believe in luck, but living in Manchester, I’m pretty lucky. Events are a dime a dozen in this city, especially those focused on business or marketing or tech. Even more niche events such as business book clubs and TED Talk discussion groups happen in Manchester. If you live here, be guaranteed there is an event or conference right for you.
And when you attend these events, talk to people. A lot of attendees will be there on their own, that’s normal. You’re likely going to be one of those attendees — and I’d highly recommend that you are, otherwise you’ll talk to your friend(s) all day and make no new connections — so get out there during the networking breaks and mingle.
Follow up with an email/LinkedIn message.
Once you’ve networked a tad, by now there’s hopefully a growing collection of business cards in your pocket. And on each business card (usually) there’s an email.
Use it.
There’s a mini-art to emailing too, but we won’t go in to that here. Long Chapter short, drop an email shortly after the event that states it was a pleasure to meet the person and thanks them for the time they spent talking to you.
Obviously, there could be some more stuff you want to add to the email, but if it was a standard chat, don’t overdo it.
Connect on the social networks.
Email is great, but social networks are where it’s at now. You’ll always have the option to keep in touch with your new connection over email, but social networks allow you to get to know your new acquaintances by seeing what they share how they interact with their friends/followers.
Twitter is best for this. No other network out there let’s you better keep in touch with your connections. Make the most of that fact.
Attend more events.
Odds are that once you’ve attended a couple of events, you’ll want to attend more. At this stage, it becomes an addiction.
Every few weeks you’ll be searching through Eventbrite, keeping up to date on Meetup (and finding new Meetup groups to join) and generally doing whatever you can to add a few more dates in to your diary.
Attending more events is good for two reasons.
1) You can still make loads of new connections at each event.
2) You might also bump in to an old connection, which provides an opportunity to catch up and reconnect.
Grab a coffee.
Ah, coffee. The cornerstone of personal and professional relationships.
Hey, here’s an idea: once you’ve met someone new and you think that person might be worth getting to know a bit more, arrange a chat over coffee.
Email and social networking is all well and good, especially with people who don’t live nearby, but nothing beats a good old face to face chat.
“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
Which takes us nicely on to our final point: if this new connection is worth getting to know more, how can they help you and how can you help them?
Sometimes, they might provide a service you need. Sometimes, it’s the other way around.
On occasion though, you may both offer a service that the other needs. In this case you can likely strike up a deal for a trade of services. Usually, this means you do work for each other without any (or much) money trading hands.
It’s super useful, and could save you and the other person a lot of cash. Just make sure the deal is mutually beneficial.
There we have it, the Art of Making and Keeping Powerful Connections. I might’ve missed a few points, but I’ve certainly covered most of the bases I run across after meeting someone new in a professional capacity.
If I have missed anything, or you have any extra tips related to networking, let me know on Twitter, Snapchat or in the comments!
QoTD #9
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
- Dalai Lama
That’s all for Chapter 85, folks!
