🤝 Effective Networking: 5 Key Tips
As promised, we are posting another article about effective networking. Read how to use new acquaintances most effectively. We have several ideas on this matter, and you have 24 hours to apply them.
The time limit is not our whim. The fact is that from the moment of the first meeting, it is most effective to remind a person of your existence within 24 hours. Otherwise, you will have to explain at length and intricately where you are from and what you need.
So, you know each other. You have contact information. By themselves, they are useless if you never decide to get in touch a second time. You can remind them of yourself in a few simple ways that are accepted in the business environment.
For business communication, a short letter to e-mail and adding a person to social business networks, for example, to Linkedin, is suitable. This network also has a useful tool – Newsle. Which allows you to receive news about people who are important to you. The program can be connected to your contacts. In this case, you will receive digests that are important to you by e-mail.
detail #2 – create reminders
After you have reminded about yourself with a short letter and added the person to your contacts on a social network, do not forget about him. Write or call at least once a month. You can create reminders for several months in advance in your smartphone planner. Do not forget to indicate general information in the reminders: how you met, what you talked about, what you are going to talk about in the future.
When you receive a reminder, send a message to the person you care about asking for a meeting, sharing information that might be of interest to them, inviting them to an event, or recommending a useful article. Of course, you don’t have to send messages to all your useful contacts every month, but it’s a good, unobtrusive way to stay in touch.
detail #3 – birthdays and other little things
Social networks are a valuable gift for establishing business communications. You don’t have to ask a person about their interests or their date of birth. Just look at their profile.
Send your best wishes on days when something important happens to the people you care about. If you want your wish not to get lost in hundreds of other messages, write a handwritten letter.
detail #4 – help without expectations
Try to find out if your interlocutor has a need? Maybe his relative is looking for a job or he himself is looking for a specialist for the team? Look for an opportunity to help, show the interlocutor that you care. Take the initiative.
But remember – helping others is a selfless act. Don’t expect anything in return. Just show that you can be a useful contact.
detail #5 – success is in the little things that you notice and take into account
When you arrange a meeting, schedule it in a place convenient for your interlocutor or in a place where both of you can comfortably get to. It is also important that you both have enough time to discuss the issue of interest. Plus, try to meet one-on-one so that nothing distracts you and choose places where background noise will not interfere with communication.
Also, don't forget that there are parking spaces around the place you've chosen. This will save your interlocutor's time and nerves.
During the meeting, try to establish mutual understanding. Give the interlocutor the opportunity to ask questions. If possible and time permits, let the agenda be communication, and not business or personal issues.