Looking to Improve Your Networking? Start With A Plan

 

Networking is not as easy as some may think. Just showing up at an event or passing along a business card likely won’t be enough to get your phone ringing. President of Fox Coaching Associates Nancy Fox, in a recent article for Rain Today, discusses how many salespeople approach networking the wrong way, primarily because they do so without a plan. Like any endeavor, especially in business, it helps to take the time to plan ahead. Fox offers five ways to improve networking, and I’ve included the first three below. Click here to read the rest, as well as her entire article.

1. Create the right strategy: If you’re not clear about whom you need to be meeting, then you can’t determine the right places to network for your business. That will surely leave you spinning a lot of wheels and feeling frustrated. Use Sophia’s three-column method [see original article] above to specify your target audience. (If you have more than one area of specialization, create a chart for each key area you wish to address.) Work backwards to determine where your target audience is likely to be congregating and go there.
2. Get out of your comfort zone: The more uncomfortable you are, the more likely you’ll be interacting with an upgraded network of influencers, decision makers, and well-connected people. Most people would prefer to network where they feel comfortable because it’s easy. Developing relationships with higher-level people might take a bit more courage, but it will quickly elevate your credibility and increase the quality of opportunities that come your way.
3. Demonstrate self-confidence: Once again, people are seeking to develop confidence in the wrong places. The secret to self-confidence is that it is accessed not acquired. Self-confidence is developed when we give it to others. By being generous with others, our value goes up; as our respect from others is increased, so is our self-confidence. As we provide added value for contacts and clients, gaining experience from these actions, respect for us deepens and our self-confidence quotient rises. It is not necessarily a factor of how knowledgeable we are. We often see very knowledgeable people with limited self-confidence. And sometimes, we just need to just “act as if” until self-confidence follows.