[Closed] Networking

You need to meet/network with people who either care about what you do, can buy what you are doing or are influential/damm good at recommending stuff.

You can turn your social media into your own advertising space but unless the people there are customers it might not work.

Excellent, really simple but useful in focusing my ideas. Thank you.

The trick I use as a sole trader.

Whenever I meet anyone who I want to "network" I try to find some issue in common to talk about, and I make sure I get their details.
A couple of days later I get in touch, with a link, advice, a suggestion or similar, based on the above.

They then feel a small debt of gratitude, and hopefully will get back in touch, and think of me when an opportunity comes along.

Best of luck,

APF

Whats your product or service? Kinda key to the approach to take imo.

Thanks this is what I’m looking. Much appreciated.

I have a number of "friends" (using the term loosely) that attempt to use their social media for networking. As Mike implies I honestly don't think it works unless you have friends who might be interested in buying what you are selling.

LinkedIn.

Free, tailors people and content to yours, and you can advertise / message people everywhere.

Considering starting my own business the details I won’t go into. The reason being I’m interested in tips for self generation of clients and getting my message out there.

You might want to reassess this when you start networking...

😂

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OK you're into my day job here so a few tips on networking first :-

1) Go to the right events, not just any event, talk to who arranges the event find out who goes ahead of actually committing to going
2) Networking is trust based and depending on what you're doing / selling / providing it might take a few visits to work
3) Don't go trying to sell X, go with a mission to learn about the other people and to help them meet nice people you know. Get a reputation for being a good guy and guilt them into helping you later 😉
4) Ask people what they do, whom they find interesting as soon as you're comfortable to do so as it helps to give context to the conversation you have with them when they finish talking.
5) Talk to the organiser, always amazes me this one, the organiser of the event knows everyone / what they do and will introduce you to anyone else if you ask.
6) Hang out near the food / coffee / exit as people naturally gravitate to those.

OK now LinkedIn.

1) Don't connect to every tom, dick and harriet - not all connections are good in fact some are very dangerous!
2) Talk to people, don't sell, don't advertise, don't shout just talk - talk about what you've done recently to help a client do good stuff or get value from what you do, use anecdotes and conversation to spark interesting conversations - keep doing that! Don't worry so much about content just talk works better 😉
3) LinkedIn works best face to face, over a coffee and in real life - so use it to meet real and nice people in real life.
4) Your profile is about you (why you, what makes you tick, personality, style in a work context) in your summary and work (what you do, why you do it and the difference it makes to your clients) in your experience section.
5) Don't pay to advertise - most people don't click adverts and don't read them - see 2)
6) Don't pay for LinkedIn, until you absolutely have to or have more than 300 people viewed your profile (that's in 90 days) 🙂

There you go hope that helps but if you need more drop me a message as I'm being quite generic not knowing what you do or whom you find interesting work wise.

Good luck!

James

Nice tips fatbikeandcoffee and sum up a training course I got sent on for LinkedIn a couple of years back.

Other thing for LI is make sure every connection ("friend") request you send has a personalised message in (where you met them or something that helps show you care) and seek out people you know who are already on there to start. My only exception to that rule is colleagues I know really well.

Nice tips fatbikeandcoffee and sum up a training course I got sent on for LinkedIn a couple of years back.

I never knew such things existed!

I've never got it myself, seems like FB but full of dull work related posts, which is why I only ever use it to look up contact details for an ex-colleague once in a blue moon. Our Marketing Lady, on the other hand, seems to live in it...

LinkedIn is Facebook for people not allowed to use Facebook at work.

There is a push to remind people that linked in is not facebook, not the place for a cat video etc. most of my connections seem to get that. It's a very good way especially around tech of spreading messages and developments as it hits relevant people much much faster. The post analysis also tell me how many of my competitors are checking out what we are up to

Some good advice above and I would echo the point about doing some background on the networking events, who they’re aimed at and what type of people will be there to see if they align with your target prospective clients. Having said that, you have to go to quite a lot of them to find the ones that are actually potentially worth while. I tend to go to each event a couple of times and then sack it if it’s the wrong demographic.

Always follow up on any contacts you meet within a few Days, I favour by email, and dependent n the conversation you had put a relevant proposition in the e-mail -meet for coffee to discuss business further etc. you’ll be amazed at how many people don’t

Accept the fact that you’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs before finding the right two or three networking events to attend regularly and don’t expect results in the short term,but balance that with being conscious that you can burn a lot of time “networking” which delivers nothing - I see a lot of people doing it because they thing they should and all they’re doing is ticking a box and wasting their time

I’m 50/50 on linked in, I think you have to put an awful lot of time into it for it to be an effective but business development tool in generals (depends on your business though) and I think most people use it as a Work face book to shout about how great they & their businesses are doing - this adds no value to your network. Having said that, generationing value add or thought leadership content is increasingly time consuming unless you work for a business that provides that for you. I think it’s real value is in indentifying prospective clients and the relevant contact at that business - I tend to then approach them directly and normally get a better return for the time invested

Best tips that I’ve ever been given on networking are go with a mind set of ‘how can I make myself useful to this person (outside of the service / product you provide) and remember that the majority of people aren’t great / don’t like networking so may be in the same boat as you - but you can teach yourself to do it fairly easily

Re LinkIn, something like 6% of executive bonuses at Microsoft are based on LinkedIn usage..

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/19/microsoft-is-now-tying-satya-nadellas-pay-to-linkedins-performance.html

Really pleased with the feedback here. Very much appreciated.

Thanks @Garage-dweller might have been me in day job mode 😉

@sofaboy if you're spending more than an hour on it then you might want to get some help. Too much time on it is not good, kind of says I have no work or focus 😉 Plus don't share content just talk to people, not shout, about what you're up to work wise and what others are getting from it in terms of help or difference.

@footflaps IIRC they spend 26.4 BN a couple of yours back so no surprises, biggest surprise is a) they don't use it much themselves b) their internal education on it is very poor (I can say that 100%) and hence c) the bonus focus for execs.

James

You’ve just helped enormously on my endeavour to be self employed.
What a great reply.

This thread is making me cringe, their are two types at events

Those who network and those who cover up there name tag and avoid eye contact..
I need to make more effort I guess, I just find some of the prolific networkers proficiently dull and often rude..

I prefer to hold a door open or chat when getting a coffee.

Some great comments, it’s definately about what can that person do for me, or I can do for them, I’m of the opinion a good product sells itself so tend to hate the Tech, finance events

Some really helpful hints above. This is helping me with my decision to take the plunge.

This might be a daft question; what’s the best way to find a networking event? Simply google?

Mind you I’ve just found a business cycle networking event. What a great excuse for a ride.

I found the most effective way to gather clients was to write a weekly column for the local newspaper on my subject.

Don't use it to advertise, just inform. In no time you're seen as the expert in your field locally.

Andy Bounds, "The Jelly Effect" is a very well written book on this sort of thing...
Lots of good stuff on Networking

IIRC they spend 26.4 BN a couple of yours back so no surprises

I still have no idea what they were thinking when they bought it, I can't see it ever making back that sort of money. Seems a bit like Nokia, pay a lot of money, wait 5 years, write it all off...

I really like that local newspaper column idea. Any other low cost marketing ideas please?

hammy7272
I really like that local newspaper column idea. Any other low cost marketing ideas please?

Yeah, don't go where I went from there. I started a magazine for local business issues. It got too popular and I was running around like the proverbial blue-arsed fly what with adverts, chivvying up article writers, etc. It was interfering with my core businesses so I gave it to a friend.

But it was enormous fun and I missed it.

These days social media does the job better.

@footflaps They bought it for a couple of official reasons a) they wanted to be in the 'social' space and b) They needed some insights to make their CRM play work better (as it has always been poor relative to SalesForce etc but not my world so no views here).

The reality from speaking to a couple of the bigwigs the day after it was announced when they called me to ask what I thought (?), as I wasn't on the clock I asked them what they thought and worried about first 🙂 They didn't know what they'd bought (!) as the value of LinkedIn has escaped their vision in terms of the other 'stuff'.

LinkedIn has always made money since year 2 and lot's of it, it's nearly 40% up since MS bought it and that's mainly because unlike previous acquisitions they have pretty much left it as was, so that will be $1.3 (or maybe 1.4 IIRC) Billion last quarter (quarter!) but it is more than half paid for by recruiters that spend a fortune 65% ish of the revenues of LinkedIn and another 26% ish from advertisements (that are rarely clicked on ironically) and the rest from 'normal' people that pay - but I can easily go off on one about that - all the gear no idea etcetera.

Saw first joint product a year ago, didn't really work and some integration creeping into office now too but no one really uses it that I've come across yet.

So let's assume it tracks along at 1.5Bn a quarter for a bit, then their quids in :/ To be honest having spent that much with there they're at I am not sure even they can afford to muck this one up - it hurt them to buy it and cost a lot of people their jobs in Microsoft to do so :/

James

but it is more than half paid for by recruiters that spend a fortune 65% ish of the revenues of LinkedIn and another 26% ish from advertisements (that are rarely clicked on ironically) and the rest from ‘normal’ people that pay

I'm amazed anyone advertises on it, it seems to only be for recruiters. If you're not looking for a job, I just don't see why you'd bother with it.

. If you’re not looking for a job, I just don’t see why you’d bother with it.

We use it for business promotion, my linked in is an extension of my work. The area I work in at the moment is evolving fast and some of the stuff that was pure pipe dream a couple if years back is happening so it's great to share it and see what other people are up to.
In smaller companies especially in the consulting space it's great to connect with people, it's also great for tracking where people end up. Generated several good leads from spotting that a former customer has moved into a new role or company.