How many contacts do you need?
Social networking behaviours can lead you to believe that the more followers (Twitter), friends (Facebook) and contacts (LinkedIn) you have the better you’re doing at the game and the more successful you’ll be.
Similarly in ‘old’ marketing people measured their success by the size of their database not by the effectiveness/profitability of their business activities.
So, How big should your network be?
I believe we already know (and have access to) everyone we need to know to get access to the people and resources we need to do business successfully.
(I’ve been guilty myself of going to a small event and thinking.. ‘hmm, not too many people here to network’ with and conversely, going to 600-strong breakfasts and thinking what a waste of time it was.)
You know everyone you need to know
You probably know at least a hundred people through your work, family, industry, community, church etc. (If you’re a member of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network community you are also connected to hundreds of business women through the Member Directory).
Each of your contacts IS connected (by six degrees, or more, or less – but connected) to everyone else you may want to know. The key is to make the connections.
How to make the connections
As simple as it sounds, all you need to do to make the connections is:
- Be someone people want to assist (because you’re generous, you add value to them, you doing interesting things and telling people about them).
- Ask for what you want in a succinct way that makes it easy for people to assist you. (Example below.)
A. Be someone people want to know
A great resource I’d like to recommend is Guerilla Networking by Jay Conrad Levinson and Monroe Mann.
In the book the authors discuss ways to make your self more desirable (i.e. the type of person people want to meet). While much of the advice is common sense I’m surprised how many people still attend events and dish out cards, don’t listen or engage and have a ‘me, me, me’ attitude. Levinson and Mann’s practical tips for increasing your desirability include:
- Be an expert in your field
- Initiate conversations
- Become the go-between
- Acknowledge others
B. Ask for what you want
Instead of saying (to a contact):
“I’m looking to get some publicity for my business.”
be more specific
“I’m looking to get publicity for my new small-business management tool for carpenters in the Carpenter’s Weekly magazine.”
The person you are speaking to will immediately know what it is that you want and whether they, or someone, they know, can help you.
I could really go on for a long time about today’s lesson… but let’s move on. Time to take some action.
TODAY’s TASK
- Ask (specifically) for something you are looking for. Ask using twitter. e.g. you could tweet: “Looking for graphic designer in western suburbs of Sydney. Can you recommend someone?”
- Initiate a conversation
