Career Networking 1 – First Five Minutes

If you never Network your glass will be empty. Network occasionally and your glass may be half full If Networking is a way of life you’ll need many glasses. Whether you are employed, between jobs, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 plus, or returning to the work force after children, networking is a critical tool [...]

Career Networking 1 – First Five Minutes is a post from: Career Renovators Express.com

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Successful Career Networking

If you never Network your glass will be empty.

Network occasionally and your glass may be half full

If Networking is a way of life you’ll need many glasses.

An Essential Skill

Whether you are employed, between jobs, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 plus, or returning to the work force after children, networking is a critical tool for success.

It’s also critical if you are starting or maintaining a micro business, whether you chose face-to-face networking or via the web.

Networking Drivers

Here are a few reasons why you might like to actively network.

You want a promotion
You would like a salary raise or an improved package
Searching for a new Job offer
Want to reinvent your career.
You would like to find additional contracts
You want people to have a look at your website
You would like to arrange a meeting with potential clients.

There are a host of other reasons.

Most career opportunities happen while meeting people, whether it’s at business, social or even as a speaker at Rotary, Lions, or other like groups.

Never Sell, Just Listen …

Because of a 20 minute speech at a Rotary Club my company, Taking Control Communications, gained a $350,000 communication contract that lasted 18 months.

At a dinner party, a CEO from aged care organisation said, “Please give me a ring on Monday I think I need your services”.

That dinner party started a 10 year contract, which generated significant revenue.

They weren’t flukes.

From those contracts, my mini company of one, me, earned hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of business.

No, I’m not a great salesman, but did learn how to network when to produce a business card.

Asking questions, listening to answers, waiting to be asked what you do and crafting your answers truthfully are the keys.

Are you really serious?

If you are not networking, then you are not serious about your career, whether it’s as a “tradie”, as a professional, as an independent service provider or if you want to be an internet business giant.

Networking is also an essential if you are out of work.

Many people, however, live in fear of networking. Why?

The most common reason is, “I’m too shy … I couldn’t just walk up to a stranger and start talking to him or her.”

The real answer is they are afraid because they don’t know how to network. They don’t  use a successful process.

Step 1 – Research, research …

Networking isn’t a complicated science.  It’s not a science at all; it’s a very simple process.

The first step is to do research, particularly where and who want to network.

Try not to network the room.

Restrict your networking to a few critical people.  Discover what problems they or their organisation have.

Read the business sections of newspapers, go to business breakfasts, conferences and use the most valuable tool all, websites.

Now you can spend a pile of money or next to nothing  but your time to network.

But whatever you spend, dollars or time, you need to know how.

Remember it’s easy when you know how.

A professional head hunter told me this story.

A few years ago, President Bill Clinton was in town. His hosts held an exclusive business lunch, where 50 high flyers attended at $500 a head, except for nine of Australia’s leading CEOs.

Nine seats were available at the President’s table at $1200 dollars each. The lunch would last for two hours – cost $600 per hour.

John, the head hunter, decided he would pay the $1200 to sit on President Clinton’s table.

Now, John wasn’t their just to listen and talk with Mr Clinton. He was there to connect with one of the CEOs he knew was going to be on that table.

John was head hunting for an international corporate client who want a particular CEO to defect to his company.

He connected with the CEO and earned a handsome $100,000 fee when his target joined his client’s firm. A $1200 investment gave a $100,000 return.

What John did was called Strategic Networking.

Now I’m not suggesting you to have to spend $1200 to network, although a conference could cost that, with travel and accommodation included.

There are plenty of free, $50 to $75 local functions you can attend.

Step Two – Ask Questions, Listen and …

After the preliminary niceties, ask your target a question or two and then listen to what they have to say.  People love to talk about themselves and their organisation.  These are two topics they know best.

Eventually, they’ll ask you a question or two.

The third step is to answer the questions concisely, with an engaging statement.

The statement should provoke the question. “How do you do that?’

Now you have made a good start.

Five Minutes to Connect

The first 15 seconds and the next five minutes are critical. If your target wants to move on in just over five minutes, then he or she is not interested in you or business.

So have a concise statement about what you do and how you help people, and businesses, particularly their businesses, profession or industry.

In the Networking business that engaging statement is called an Elevator Statement

With a little help you can construct or modify your prepared statement to match their needs while you listen to them.

First 15 Seconds

Now why are the first 15 seconds so critical?

Because in those few seconds a person decides, subconsciously, if they ‘like’ you.  Those few seconds are known as the ‘likeability’ seconds.

Sub-consciously, they’ll assess how you look, your smile, and your tidiness, how clean your shoes are, and even how you smell!

In the next five minutes, you can build on that likeability factor, eventually moving onto to the credibility and initial trust factors.

In career and business networking your goal is to be able to place your hand on the door handle of the person you have connected with so that you can have further discussions about meeting their needs.

In the case of the Rotary speech the contact took five weeks to come back with a contract that lasted two years. From the networking encounter I gained permission to arrange a meeting to expand my Elevator Statement further engage and form a business relationship with the potential client.

Step 3 – Elevator Statements

In the next edition Career Renovators Express (CREX) I’ll deal with how to create that winning Elevator Statement after you ask a few questions and do some empathic listening

so you can create a’door handle’ that opens doors for you.

Persistent and Consistent Networking
The “take-home” in this Career Renovators Express is that you need to network persistently and consistently.
At the very least you probably need to network once or twice a month if you have an established career.

If you are really serious you might have to start networking every week until you establish your renovated career.

My general rule is that you can subtlety network anywhere, any time – on a plane, at a social function, at work and even at sporting function. You never know when an opportunity presents itself.

In the meantime you might like to check out the free videos at  http://www.careerrenovatorsexpress.com

 

Christian Peterson 

Career Networking 1 – First Five Minutes is a post from: Career Renovators Express.com

No related posts.