There's a whole lot of advice around these days on the etiquette for social networking - but the real world version is still pretty important! As someone who 'gets about a bit' in the nicest possible way, here's my Top 5 Networking Not Tos (followed by How Tos).
Thanks to Etch Magazine for featuring this week
1) If you make an excuse to leave a conversation, don't lie.
If you say 'I'm just going to refill my glass' go do it! If you say 'It's been great talking with you, but I've spotted Jack who I haven't seen for ages so must say hello' then please walk straight to Jack and say hello. You'll be watched, spotted and found out as a fraud if you lie. A pretty quick way to ruin credibility.
2) Don't open a conversation with a sales pitch.
You are not there to sell. You are there to build relationships and get to know people and have them trust you because you share stories and information that is interesting and helpful. They do not want to hear your pitch - well they might, but only give it if they ask.
3) Don't ignore the signals.
If someone is pulling at their clothes, rubbing the stem of their wine glass, sighing, moving from foot to foot, chances are you've bored the pants off them so stop talking and start listening. Change the subject, invite someone else in to the conversation or wrap it up, write it off and walk away with a smile.
4) Don't be gross.
For goodness sake don't get drunk. The wine might be free but that's not an excuse to drink the bottle. Make sure you're presentable and not smelly and eat a mint before you arrive. Obvious but honestly, trying to maintain interest in someone who is talking at you with clouds of halitosis washing into your nostrils is mighty tricky. And don't gossip - you just don't know who they know (which is, after all, the whole point of going in the first place but can be your downfall if you say the wrong thing...)
5) Don't go unprepared.
Know who will be there, what they might be interested in so conversation can flow easily. Take your business cards, prepare some opening lines. Have your pitch ready in a concise and interesting format just in case you're asked to give it. Being prepared shows you are committed, being unprepared puts everyone there at the bottom of your priority list which doesn't make them feel too happy.
I've received a flurry of invites to LinkedIn recently. Which is nice. However, despite a reputation (publicly stated) for connecting, I have only ever received TWO requests for a connection from people within my LinkedIn network. I think most people are using it to manage their contacts rather than as the powerful networking and interactivity tool it can be.
I'm not the first to suggest better ways of actually USING Linked In (try these from Linked Intelligence) but this is how I do it and it works:
1) Prospecting? Need a connection in a company so it's not a cold call? Search for people within that company then use your network to reach them. Ask your first connection for a referral, who'll ask their network etc until it reaches your target. A warm intro to a prospect is way better than going through switchboard.
2) Track Start Ups and watch for venture opportunities: Do an advanced search for a range of keywords like 'start up' or 'stealth'. Even better if you use the 'Sort by degrees away from you' to see those connected to your nearest/dearest.
3) Check the health of an industry you're considering investing in: Search on competititors of the venture you're assessing. Perform an advanced search for a company name and uncheck the 'current companies only' box - previous employees give more honest references about the business. The results you get from this search also give you an insight into turnover within that company, useful if that's your target opportunity.
4) Create an online resume: OK seems obvious but LinkedIn is not just a place to store contact details. It's a self promotion tool. So get those references in there, upload presentations of your business venture, put a photo up (yes photos are good, they make you real) and make sure your LinkedIn presence does you proud. Headhunters use it all the time to check out prospects.
It's important to update your profile for obvious reasons (same as a blog really, an abandoned profile is distressing for readers and makes them unlikely to connect with you) but one less obvious is the google page ranking benefit - more updates, higher ranking in search results. Because we all google each other. Well, I do!
I've just got back to my desk from visiting OfficeMax, and had to have a long sit down and take deep breaths... Last week, we moved offices and after a week of not being able to print, got a geek to help us sort the printer (there's that 'call in the experts thing again, really should take my own advice more often!). Unfortunately he sorted it within 10 mins but we couldn't print as there was no ink. *Doh*. So I toddled down to OfficeMax, ordered a cartridge and it turned up two days later. Not bad I thought. It was the wrong one. So I rang them.
"Sure we can help, what's your customer number?"
"I don't know. I have an order number?"
"No, we need a customer number."
"What for?"
"So we can track the purchase."
"Well, I don't have one. Can you track it from the order number?"
"Maybe." "No that's not showing in the system. Do you have an invoice number?"
"No, there's no invoice in the box and I paid cash."
"There should be an invoice in the box."
"Well, there isn't."
"Well, there should be"
And so on and so on. Eventually I just asked for the thing to be picked up and I would go to the shop to credit my bank account sometime soon. Nope, couldn't happen. I would have to pay a courier to have it collected. So I get the darn thing to the shop finally, and we go through the whole "You haven't got a customer number, we really need one, where's your customer number" for about twenty minutes until finally I got my money back.
I watched the woman faff about with her online stock control system, tutting and sighing and worrying and checking with her manager for ages. It pretty much cost me more to return the thing than to buy it.
Customers want service, not systems. Deal with the customer, then make your systems work later.
Got my ink from ComputerLink in Petone (cheaper and smilier and you don't need a customer number!)
Frances and I threw a networking party last night. It was great fun and achieved what we set out to do: thank everyone who's made this first year in business so great, and give everyone we have the privelege of knowing, the chance to know each other. As it was my first party, the experience has given me some fresh insights into networking (in the same way that running your own business makes you better qualified to advise others wink wink).
Thanks to everyone who obeyed these rules and had fun with us.
1) Always respond to an RSVP It was SO annoying, when Roz had spent so long creating a beautiful invite, to find that people couldn't be bothered even saying no. It doesn't matter if you say no, it matters if you ignore the gesture of being invited. (Caveat on this: our invite was so fabulous it did get stuck in some people's spam filters..! so you lot are excused)
1a) If you didn't respond to an RSVP don't just bowl up There won't be enough food and drink and if its a seated affair you'll stuff it all up. The height of rudeness I reckon, to not acknowledge an RSVP and then bowl up on the night. It smacks of 'I didn't want to come and was holding out for better offers but none came so you'll do'. Well you won't do.
2) If you can't make it, tell your host We spent a fortune in Moore Wilsons and luckily our party went until midnight so it was all eaten. Would have been annoying otherwise. An apology, no matter how late, is better than not turning up
2a) If you don't apologise before, apologise after The next day is fine. Otherwise you're a no show and you ain't getting another invite.
3) Say thanks Ohmygosh it was so wonderful to get all the thank yous today. We were really touched. It's not hard to fire a quick email with 'thanks for putting on the event' - you don't have to say you enjoyed it, if you didn't, just acknowledge the effort and aspirations of your host.
Lots of other comments on the goings on at the event, will cover them separately!
I am now completely sold on the idea of calling in the experts. When you run your own business its so tempting to JFDIY (just, well, do it yourself) because it saves money. Well, maybe, but it certainly doesn't save you time if you're bashing away at a website that would take someone else three hours to create. Time is money, and its more valuable.
That argument has been had and won before. BUT there's one more layer to add, now. And that is, calling in the experts exposes you to a level of skill that you just don't have, that can take your business somewhere you hadn't dreamed of. That's why they're called experts, stoopid.
Example - I'm moving offices, and moving in with Frances to a cool new pad on Boulcott Street. Hurrah! I had a vision of some nice matching furniture and a couple of pot plants and, well, simply our own space. This is what we're renting:
And this is what Roz Paterson has designed for us:
See I love it so much its my desktop background! Aren't we lucky! And aren't you looking forward to the office warming....
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