Madison Who’s Who Blog

Whatever your profession, knowing how to implement effective global networking, and meet people is critical to your success. You can leverage global networking opportunities to increase your exposure, or get clients for a coaching or copywriting business, or line up speaking opportunities - whatever your profession is, effective global networking can help you.

As busy professionals, it’s sometimes hard to drag ourselves away from our business and actually interact with the human race. Here are fifteen tips to get you started.

1. Always have your business cards available for exchanging.

2. Hone your 30-second commercial.

Basically, when you first meet someone, you have 30 seconds to explain concisely and persuasively what you do for a living. Make it both clear and compelling. Plus you should explain how your products and services can benefit customers don’t just rattle off a list of features. (Features sound more like descriptions of products and services, whereas benefits talk about what problems the product or service will solve for the customer.)

The point of your 30-second commercial is to intrigue your “audience” enough to ask a few more questions and hopefully hire you for a project. Practice it, but try not to let it sound too rehearsed as well. It should roll smoothly and conversationally off your tongue. Before you try it in for real, give it a whirl in front of a few friends or family members and see how they respond to it.

3. Be an active listener when talking with people.

4. Don’t eat or drink until you are finished networking, so you can keep your hands free to shake hands and to exchange cards.

5. Always follow up a meeting with a thank you note.

6. Write down new contacts in your address book immediately after receiving them.

7. Make a brief list of potential new contacts and don’t forget to get in touch with them.

8. After you meet someone, jot down a few words on his or her business card that reminds you of that person.

9. Talk about YOU, not just your company.

10. Dress for the event.

11. Wear your nametag on your right lapel.

12. Plan your exit line in advance. Your goal at these events is to meet as many people as possible. You don’t want to get stuck in a long conversation with someone. So make sure you know how to gracefully exit the conversation.

13. Read body language. Look at how people are interacting. Are they completely involved with their conversations or do are they look open to meeting someone new? The better you become at reading people, the easier it will get approaching them.

14. Set a goal of how many new people you want to meet at the event. If you’re shy, aim for one person. As this gets easier, set higher goals.

15. If you do meet someone who could be a potential client, ask them what challenges them the most about their business or personal life. For instance, if you’re a copywriter, ask them what copywriting or marketing problem would they most like solved. If you write books on organizing time, then ask what organizational problem they would most like solved. This can even work with fiction ��” ask them what they feel is most lacking in films or books nowadays.

Listen to the answer. Then respond by explaining what you do could help make their problem go away.

When you go to a business networking event make sure you have plenty of business cards. Getting exposure is critical in accomplishing effective global networking. I have my business cards everywhere; in my wallet, in my planner, in my car, in my computer bag, and my briefcase. My family members also have my cards,and give them out to everyone they talk to. As networking specialist for Entrepreneur Magazine, Ivan Misner points out, the business card is the single most powerful business tool you can invest in. The two main functions of your card are to gain business from the person you give it to and to get your name out to other people from this person who now has your cards. When you give out your card, always write something personal on it. This will give that card a greater chance to be held onto by the receiver. Be sure to give them more than just one card, however, so they can pass them out. A classic tip for receiving cards is to make notes on the card shortly afterwards, in order to jog your memory about that person. Contact them after the event to say something nice; this helps to remind them who you are and think about you when a potential referral comes their way.

Keep in mind, effective gloabal networking does not have to be something to dread. If you shudder just thinking about it, I challenge you to start practicing. Pick a small event where you know most of the people and feel relatively comfortable. Then make the decision that you will speak to no less

These days there are so many demands our time made by our business, professional, and personal lives it is tempting to assign a lower priority to networking as an activity designed to meet new people. However, effective global networking is only a conversation away.
We are constantly being introduced to new people every day with no disruption to our schedules. Secondly, by not consistently widening our circles of acquaintances and contacts, we may be severely curtailing our chances for advancement and success. It is estimated that the average person knows about 250 people. And each of those people knows, in turn, another 250 or so people.
This means that for each new person you meet, you gain access to a potential pool of 62,500 people separated from you by just two degrees! Talk about effective global networking! Imagine the odds, then, that out of so many people, you would NOT find one person who would be a source of information about a better job, additional clients or customers, a speaking engagement or writing assignment, an investment opportunity, where to shop for better value, and much more.

Lately security industry leaders such as Sophos are working to protect social networkers.  They are warning users of the dangers of allowing strangers to gain access to their online profiles.  This comes following new research into the risks of identity and information theft occurring through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
While these sites can help achieve effective global networking, recent research shows that 41 percent of users will share their personal information with a complete stranger.  Information such as email address, date of birth and phone number are bits of information that ID thieves love to get their slimy hands on.  Freely giving strangers access to this information greatly increases a person’s susceptibility to ID theft. While there are few documented cases of ID theft occurring from social networking sites, given their popularity it won’t be long before thieves are fully exploiting them.  Protect yourself by limiting the amount of personal information you divulge to strangers. The bottom line – If you’re using social media to increase your effective global networking, do it without divulging too much information about yourself.

The first time you ever hand out your business card, you are engaged in some sort of global networking.  Effective global networking may occur whether you know it is happening or not.  Every time you select new vendors, recruit for new employees, seek to promote your product/service or expand your market reach, some type of networking is involved.
The focus of effective global networking is to create a positive identity as both a business and a brand or service.  Essentially, effective global networking is operating on your name.  An integral component of networking is maintaining an impeccable reputation with your vendors and affiliates and your customers.  Any poor business practices will become evident in time and if that reputation is damaging, there is no networking that can reverse it.
Effective global networking is one of the many key methods for generating leads.  Someone always knows someone who needs your service/product.  If you have a pristine relationship with your vendors and affiliates, they will gladly recommend you.  Consider coordinating a marketing campaign or event with your affiliates that promote your mutual interests.

The popularity of a web site is measured by traffic. The popularity of a product is measured by sales, traffic from consumers.In a world of information overload we rely on search engines to help us find what we’re looking for whether it be information, products, services and now people.

Popularity is also an influence of conversational content that people relate to for whatever reason. Advertisers flock to web sites with the most traffic hoping to attract viewers to their offering. As the web has evolved it has caused a fundamental technology and communications market shift toward the person and away from the place and things. The social web has created a shift by moving away from connecting people to things and shifted towards people connecting to people.

What connects the people?

There are many things that motivate people to connect with one another. The attractions include age, demographics, industry, expertise and last but not least activity. Activity comes in the form of content which raises an individuals profile and frames the reference of appeal to others. Content also comes in many forms including news, articles, commentary, endorsements, links all of which drives hits to a persons profile.

A persons presence is largely driven by the “hits” to topics, conversations and their participation within the social web. BusinessWeek reports: Barack Obama may or may not become the next President of the U.S., but he’s a winner on the Internet. His status in cyberspace now surpasses that of Hillary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, and even Paris Hilton, according to Garlik, a British startup that rates people’s digital reputations.

Such rating systems aren’t new. But Garlik’s service, called QDOS, claims to operate on an unprecedented scale. Garlik founder and CEO Tom Ilube says QDOS has taken the digital measure of all 45 million adults in Britain, rating them on how active they are online, their popularity, individuality, and impact on all things digital

“Imagine the impact of a searchable source of tens, or hundreds of millions, of QDOS status scores,” says Ilube. People could use such assessments in recruiting, or to find status-appropriate mates. Corporations, Ilube notes, spend millions of dollars analyzing consumer information. Someday, he says, “consumers will demand to be active participants in that personal information economy.”

Hits in the Relationship Economy are driven by Conversational Attraction

Barack Obama’s conversations seem to be working. His relationship with Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Obama helped raise the conversational bar. His conversations with America raised his “hits” as indicated by the Business Week article. But did the content of his conversations bring him the attraction he needed to win in Iowa ? Additionally the content of Mike Huckabee’s conversations ended up getting him a win in Iowa as well . One would conclude that Huckabee’s and Obama’s conversational content created a “better relationship” with voters than did the other candidates. So we could conclude that attraction is driven by hits and the quality of the “conversational content” in the networked world.

What type of conversational content creates the greatest attraction (hits)?

Jack Welch, previous leader of GE Capital, writes a column for each edition of Business Week. In his year end column titled “Hot-Button Columns of 2007 he notes the top issues he and his wife addressed in his column during 2007 that sparked the greatest response. Jack writes:

Talk about blindsided! “The high cost of corruption” was one of our most controversial columns of the year,, inflaming slews of readers, who accused us of everything from ignorance to collusion

Take our March column decrying the Employee Free Choice Act. If our column on corruption set off a firestorm, this one unleashed a conflagration.

By contrast, our most popular column this year was a love letter we wrote to Gen Y, a group of young people who, despite their negative press, we have consistently found to be engaged, worldly, entrepreneurial, and hungry to win. Our view struck a chord, and “Generation Y’s bad rap” elicited a rush of letters from grateful twentysomethings—and their employers, professors, and even some of their parents. “Thank you!” one mother wrote us. “At last someone has the guts to see these kids as we see our daughter and her friends—the hope of the future.”

Finally, a July column “Bosses who get it all wrong,” didn’t spark controversy as much as inspire a boatload of advice to us—about what we failed to mention in our list of the top five corner-office dysfunctions. (One reader even sent us a list of 15 bad behaviors we left out.) But we were perhaps the most taken aback by the e-mail we received from a reader who hung the column in her cubicle. A few days later, a manager told her to take it down and stop “pushing the envelope.”

Jack Welch’s column content was relevant to the “swarm”of readers that follow the column and could relate to the issues, good and bad. The conversational web creates hits by connecting people to people and engaging in relevant conversations that “hits” people where ever they are at, at any given time, everywhere and anywhere.

Sound familiar?

What is it that businesses need to learn about the conversational web?

If you visit the web pages of the Fortune 500 you will find one way conversations filled with content that is not necessarily relevant to “the people”.

We were recently in dialog with a global company that does in excess of $60 Billion a year in transactions. The company wanted to learn how to use the social web for business and wanted us to provide them the education around the related issues. They were interested in creating their own social network with the aim of “connecting” their employees, customers and suppliers. When asked why would these people want to connect with your business? Their response was, “because we have something of value to offer them”. So we simply checked the Alexa traffic rating on their corporate web site and it ranked close to 900,000. In comparison this blog had a rank of 272,000 on Alexa. What is the difference?

The executives were surprised and indicated they need to work on SEO to increase the traffic to their web site. Our response was no, you need to learn how to have meaningful conversations and create relevant content that appeals to your customers, suppliers and employees. Simply building or participating in “social networks” so you can connect with people is a waste of time and money. On the other hand if you have something that is relevant to the hearts and minds of the people you want to relate to then, and only then, will you understand the power of the social web. The best approach to leveraging the social web is to understand the systemic nature of peoples interest, desires and needs: a relationship.

Connecting the dots requires a conversation, not just a connection. What say you?

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

There is no excuse at all for attending a peer to peer networking event without business cards, and yet people do it all the time. Excuses range from forgetfulness to new jobs and having left them in the car in the parking lot. If you tell people you forgot your cards, many will assume you are as lax in your business habits and you might lose opportunities. Even if you don”t have your new cards yet, you can easily produce a temporary supply on your computer. When you give them to people you can mention that they are temporary and offer to send them your new one when you have it. That, of course, is a built-in reason to contact people again! A business card is an essential networking tool - make sure you have a supply with you at all times.

For many people, the most difficult aspect of a conference is speaking to people they don”t know, and walking into a room full of strangers can certainly be intimidating. We”ve all stood inside the door looking at hundreds of people busily engaged in conversation, feeling as if everyone knows everyone else except us! Here’s a secret: the only difference between you and all those others is that they arrived five minutes ahead of you and they have found one person to speak to! So how can you break into that buzz?

Effective global networking is simply the exchange of ideas or information, across a wide demographic or geographic location, for the benefit of either or both parties. Most networking takes place to share and help the other person grow. Successful and effective networking is the creation of relationships, so it’s not a quick process. Sure, you may meet someone at a meeting and share cards, only meeting them once, but if you don’t follow up and develop a relationship with that person, chances are they will be unlikely to remember you when they cross paths with someone who could use your services.

Effective global networking today takes on a whole new meaning than it did just ten years ago. Before the internet created a global economy, networking generally meant going to meetings where people could meet, face-to-face, and share what they had to offer and learn how they could help other professionals. Today the purpose is the same, but the venues have expanded beyond borders. I can network with someone in Australia, now!

How can networking help your business?
Networking can help in all aspects of growing a business! From learning who to contact to create your marketing materials to how to set up your office, who to consider when ready to incorporate, to how to deal with particular types of clients all can be discussed with others. It can also help to answer questions that maybe you don’t know where to go to ask. When I was only in business for a couple of years, someone asked me how I got started. Through the years I would offer this person advice and, in a sense, mentorship, and today she is a very successful businesswoman in her own right. A colleague has become a very good friend and also someone who often refers organizations to me for speaking engagements. Both of these are examples of how networking helps with business.

In working with businesses over the years, people have often told me they don’t “do”peer networking any more because it doesn”t work. When I hear this, I know that person has committed at least one, and perhaps both of the cardinal sins of peer to peer networking.

1. The first cardinal sin of networking is selling. Perhaps you that that is that what you thought networking was all about? Well, although networking can be an integral part of the selling process, the two are distinctly different. Have you ever been circulating happily at a networking event (even at one of your own conferences or tradeshows), when suddenly someone has you backed into a corner trying to sell you mutual funds? That”s the cardinal sin!

If you meet someone who seems to be a good prospect for your services, tell the person you have some information they might find useful and would like to meet or speak on the phone later to discuss it. If the person seems open to this, be sure to get their business card and make the call as arranged. That”s the time to go into selling mode.

2. The second cardinal sin of networking is asking for or offering someone a job. Certainly, job hunting is another reason for active networking, but once again it”s only part of the process. If you meet someone who seems a good candidate for a position you need to fill, follow the same process I”ve described above. If you begin discussing the job opportunity in detail, neither you nor the other person will have an opportunity to mix and meet others, which is the reason you are there.

The internet has put effective global networking at your fingertips.  With numerous networking and social marketing websites available how do you choose one that meets your needs?  Here are some things to consider:
•  Choose a networking group that’s relevant to your line of business.  To have an effective glogal marketing strategy, you must be involved with groups who are interested in what you have to offer.  Choose those groups who share an interest in your business.
•  Consider your target audience.  Your target audience can vary greatly depending on what your business offers.  Consider those who will be interested in your products or services.  Who are they? What are their likes?  Where do they like to hang out?  Answering these questions can help you network with members of your target audience.
•  Introductions come first.  Never launch into a sales pitch right away. This tends to turn people off. Sometimes we get so excited about sharing our business that we forget one key fact. Networking is about establishing relationships first and making sales later.
Finding effective global networking groups not only helps extend your reach to new customers.  It can also be fun. Imagine that, work that is actually enjoyable!