Building & Cultivating One Contact at a Time

Building & Cultivating One Contact at a Time

Every time I turn around I read something about the importance of networking and quite frankly I’m a little surprised that tips like “stay in touch even after an event” are floating around. So, with the job market still shaky and people nervous about the economy I thought I’d toss out a few new and old strategies that should help us all feel a little more grounded. I’m a big believer in acting as if: as if things are going to look up, as if your financial situation is going to get better, as if there’s something good right around the corner. This is especially useful in the workplace whether you’re sitting across the desk from an HR professional interviewing for a job or looking around a conference table at the faces of your colleagues who are looking to you for some inspiration.
    But let’s get back to networking. Clearly, it’s more than just working a room (what a phrase!). One of the most important aspects of networking is to open yourself up. This means allowing in the possibility that by setting aside some preconceived notions, not just about people, but about what you might be interested in, you expand your “opportunity universe.” It’s essential, for example, to stay in touch with people. Restricting communications to networking events is incredibly limiting. Networking events (and “networking” can encompass a huge galaxy of circumstances from true meet-and-greet situations to business meetings and conferences) should serve as the jumping off point for establishing a range of communications with someone. Too often people are afraid or reluctant to re-establish contact with someone whom they don’t know very well. But that should be viewed as an opportunity. It’s when we blatantly use people and say silly things like, “I think we can help each other blah, blah, blah” that we get ourselves into trouble. Isn’t it obvious that we’re trying to help each other? Yes, but what’s not obvious is what you’re actually willing to do to help someone you’ve just. In other words, you have to be honest about it.
    For instance, if you want to expand your network for the purpose of bringing in more business (or enlarging your professional world) then you need to be sincere. I don’t mean just act sincere (this is different, by the way, than “acting as if”); I mean that you should really and truly demonstrate curiosity. People can almost always tell the difference. So when you’re building your list of contacts make sure that the people being added to your list aren’t just individuals who might be nice to know but those who are interesting to you. Otherwise communicating with them will almost always be a chore and something you eventually come to resent.