Networking is More Than Just Handing Someone Your Business Card

I have posted a couple of times on networking. This one is a video blog, prompted by one I got from Keith Ferrazzi. He was talking about an article that had been published about him that he thought might have been a mistake but turned out good. The article is The 10 Secrets of a Master Networker. Check it out. Great stuff. It made me think that today many people think Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is all they need to do to network. While these are valuable tools that is not networking. See what I have to say.



Two books have been influential in teaching me networking skills.  The first was one I read when I first went out on my own. This was Swim with the Sharks: Without Being Eaten Alive; Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate and Outnegotiate Your Competition. Mackay also wrote Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need. Both are excellent books for learning networking skills. More recently Keith Ferrazzi wrote Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time and Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail. Both excellent resources as well. If you had to pick one I would most likely follow Ferrazzi in Never Eat Alone.

Networking: An Essential Skill in a Successful HR Career (and every other career too)

I did some networking today. I reached out to Sharlyn Lauby, the HR Bartender, and she was gracious enough to call and chat. (You need to put her on your MUST read list. You will find out why she is on most of, if not all, the lists of the best.) We chatted about our businesses, our blogs, what we are trying to accomplish. (This all developed from a post of hers that talked about being willing to share, even with other consultants. A view I hold as well.) In the course of the conversation we talked about people who "network" with us. I put network in quotes because, in reality, that is not what people are doing. They call us because they are looking for a job and someone told them that we "know everyone." They come looking for job leads or names. We are gracious and help them out and off they go. Often we never hear from them again or sometimes we will get some follow up basically to the tune of "have you found anything for me yet?" Then one day we hear they got a job. So we drop them a note and say congratulations. Some times we get a note back, often we do not. Seldom do we ever get a note saying "I have gone to work. Here is where you can contact me. Thanks for your help. Now what can I do for you." Often we hear "Oh, I am sorry, now that I have gone to work I just don't have time to network." (Is this sounding like a rant?)

Well "I don't have time to network" should be banished from every HR professional's lexicon. Networking is an ESSENTIAL TOOL of the HR professional. One of the goals of a true professional is to be a resource to their organization for which they work. You have to be scanning the environment, you have to understand the legal and legislative landscape, you have to know social trends and compensation trends all so you can support the strategic goal of the organization. That is tough to do all by yourself. But there are people out their that know this stuff. There are people out there that are smarter than you. And it is important for you to know who they are and meet them. And they come in very handy if you are looking for work.

Here are my tips for effective networking:

1. Everytime you ask for help offer some in return. Do NOT be just a Taker. Be a Giver. At the end of a conversation ask the question "How can I help you?" (Hint: Mean it!)
2.  If you are job hunting, be specific. What are you looking for? Don't just say "Do you know of any openings?" My response may be "Well I saw a Now Hiring sign at Panda Express." (True) If you employed and are looking for contacts, suppliers, or information be clear about what you are looking for.
3. Try to meet someone face-to-face. Just because you have connected with them in Linked In, or Facebook or Twitter does not mean you are networking, as I wrote in Networking is More than just adding a contact on social media.
4. Follow up. FOREVER. This does not mean that you have to write every day, or once a month, or even once a quarter. But there needs to be some consistant follow up. Think of it as a "drip marketing" campaign. You can even rank your contacts as A, B or C. The "A" contacts you may want to reach out to quarterly. The "B"s every six months and the "C"s on an annual basis. This is based on the importance to you that you keep in touch with them. And you don't have to write a book. A one line email, a birthday card, a short hand written note or even a voice mail is sufficient just to make contact.
5. Sharlyn and I agree everyone needs to read Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone and I will add Harvey Mackay's Swim With the Sharks. These too books are required reading.

Well I will bring my rant to an end. There are many more tips and many experts on networking that are availble to you. Find what works for you. But if you have aspirations of the "C" suite, or of consulting or of just being able to find a job when you find yourself on the street then you had better learn to make networking a life long practice.

Tell me what you think. (BTW, one good way to start networking with people is to leave comments on their blogs. Who knows they might even initiate the contact. Unless of course you are Anonymous.)

Putting the "SOCIAL" into Social Media

There is a great deal of material on social media being produced on a daily basis. There are millions of people tweeting, linking, posting, "booking" each day. Some are personal connections, some are business oriented. Generally in the personal connections there has at sometime in the past been some "in-person" connection, albeit some may be in the distant past, as in connecting with a high school classmate from 30 some odd years ago. Even some of your business connections through LinkedIn may have had an in-person connection at some point. But we get caught up in the connection mania and start adding people like crazy and as a result we often forget the SOCIAL part of social media. I am a light-wight tweeter following just over 670 people and an even lighter-weight LinkedIn user with about 180 connections. But even with these numbers the social aspects can get lost.

I had a fellow tweeter ask me if I would be interested in a phone conversation, as she had noticed I was in the Atlanta, Georgia area as was she. I suggested rather than a phone call I would like to meet in person. So we fit it into our schedules and I had the good fortune to meet Beth A. Miller of Executive Velocity (ExecVelocity on Twitter). Not only was it a very pleasant hour, but it now has the potential for being a relationship that may help both of us in our businesses.

Given that encounter I wanted to encourage people to take their social media relationships and put the in-person social contact in there as well. Here are some tips for doing this.

1. Many people are skittish about meeting in person. Learn from the professional networkers. Harvey Mackay is the "old dog" of networking (no offense to Harvey, he is actually a personal role model for me). He has written numerous books including Swim With the Sharks Withour Being Eaten Alive . He gives excellent advice on establishing, maintaining and effectively using your network. The new generation of super networker is Keith Ferrazzi. He is incredible. He has written two book, Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back.
2. A second good way to meet face-to-face is to go to a Tweet-Up or a Blogger event. Meet those people you have been exchanging information with or have been following or will want to follow. Generally these are held in a pleasant social environment (I go to one held at Pizzaria Venti) and people get relaxed and put a person to the tweet.
3. Meet other people at conferences. I have not had the luck to go to one yet, but I read that they are getting bigger and bigger. Recent ones have been held in NYC and Louisville. But you can also go to other association meetings and get to know the bloggers, tweeters and "facers" in the group.
4. Lastly, if there is someone you truly want to meet then send a message, make a call and suggest a meeting. Takes some guts (what if they don't find you as interesting?) but it won't happen if you don't do it. Take the leap.

Well those are some of my suggestions. I hope readers who are better at this will suggest some other ways to put the SOCIAL into social media. Let's hear from you.

Networking Is More Than Just Adding A Contact on Social Media

Dan Schawbel, a personal branding expert, put a link about LinkedIn on Twitter. The article is entitled LinkedIn Skyrockets As Job Losses Mount. Apparently more and more people join as they are getting laid off. I have seen alot of people join and I have advised alot of people to join. I think it is important to be connected on social media. Here is my profile. However, there are some fundamentals about networking that are important to remember, regardless if that is done through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, email, in person or on the telephone. These fundamentals include:

1. Actually connect with the person, don't just add them as a contact. They really serve no purpose just being on a list.


2. Don't start off immediately with an appeal to "help me find a job."


3. Pay attention to what is said about or by the person you are contacting. Try to connect with them through some interest of theirs.


4. Keep in touch with them by emailing or snail mailing some item about that interest. You may have noticed they went to a particular school or they support a particular team or they have a favorite author, etc.


5. FOLLOW UP with them, and don't wait to do it. Keith Ferrazzi talks about the importance of this in his Greenlight Community blogs.


6. STAY IN TOUCH. Don't let the contact die. People are busy. They are not going to remember you and your particular need if they do not hear from you on occassion.


7. And lastly, stay in touch even AFTER you become employed. You never know, you may need them again and it is much easier to keep the contact than it is to start them up again.

Oh, and a good tip to be interesting to people is to be interested in them. I suggest you read Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Dinner Alone or Harvey Mackay's Swim With the Sharks.