Jay White has a real nice tips article over at Dumb Little Man, going through some aspects of becoming a better networker. In it, he details why you don’t have to be an extrovert, what you should wear, and so on. The most important I feel is the fifth one, “Be a Hub.”
Just as all of us tech geeks love networks, normal people love relationships. Your computer network is what gives you access to files anywhere in the world, on any computer, and with any Internet connection. Likewise, your personal network is your own little business epicenter. All you need is a phone, a computer, and maybe a pen and paper to reach out to them.
Here’s 5 Things Your Personal Network Can Do For You:
- Attract business leads.
- Allow you not to know everything
- Help you find qualified employees
- Increase your chances of success
- Minimize your current workload
Attracting Business Leads
Leads are what makes the world go ’round. Oftentimes, people aren’t going to know that they want your products or services until you get a chance to talk to them! What better way than to be introduced by an intermediary (a person in your network)?
This introduction does two things. It gives you the chance to try out your fantastic sales pitch and it lends credibility to your own firm!
What happens is the person who acts as the intermediary has done work for this client in the past; or they know them on a more personal level. Either way, they are familiar enough the client’s situation that you will fit in well. So, that personal introduction is more than just a foot in the door, it is an invitation to sit down and start talking.
Allowing you NOT to know everything
In my business, it is as much who you know, as what you know. Consulting is a tough gig because a lot of times you are forced to wear many different hats. You need to be a designer, programmer, strategist and marketer. It isn’t enough to just be able to code, you need to be able to manage entire projects.
Oftentimes, your personal network will allow you to fall short on one or more of those areas. For instance a year ago, I sucked at design. I thought photoshop was the devil, and an application like maya was simply too much. I didn’t let that hamper my sales technique though. What I did was find a group of people who were very good graphically, and I asked for samples of their work. We then traded some projects back and forth, while we got to know each other. When I went out and sold 3D work, I wasn’t the one doing it - but I knew people that could!
You see, your personal network allows you to expand your service/product offerings. It allows a client the ability to shop at a ‘Target’ for their IT needs, while other consultants are still only offering a boutique level variety. Who cares that I wasn’t the one touching each and every piece of the project? I was still getting paid, and my friends in my personal network were benefiting as well!
Help you find qualified employees
One of the hardest things to do in today’s world is hire qualified employees. So many people are either ignorant, or lazy, or both! The hiring process is difficult for startups and new businesses especially, because every dime counts. If you make the commitment to train someone, they better be able to perform at least adequately!
A lot of times, the best place to turn is your professional network. For example, if I ever needed to hire a Java Developer, I have a friend in Pittsburgh who finds that kind of help. He knows every developer under the sun. In one of our lunch meetings, I just have to ask his opinion.. It sure beats putting an ad in the paper or on the Internet, hunting through resumes, and doing interviews!
Increase the chances of your success
A lot of times, a failing business has no options. The struggling business owner has very few places he can turn to for help. Sometimes, this can be alleviated by a strong professional network. If you have a lot of people surrounding you, your business will benefit from their collective wisdom or their helping hand.
I have helped both people and business owners through struggling times in the past, and I definitely feel a great deal of satisfaction from that. I have helped little startups go from ‘in debt’ to ‘incrimental positive cash flow’, just by tweaking a few things in their operation. And usually, I just do it because I can. I don’t expect anything out of it! That’s why I have paying customers :0) Everything else is just a challenge…
Minimize your current workload
Perhaps, most important of all, people in your network help you split up some of your work. A lot of times this depends on the relationships you have with them and if you are willing to pay, but I divvy up a lot of my work and ’subcontract’ it out to people more capable than myself. All provided you have good competent people around you, of course!
There are very few things as stressful as knowing you have 4 or 5 projects worth a couple thousand dollars sitting on the back burner, when they shouldn’t be there in the first place!
Build your Network
I can’t stress enough how important your network will become to you. The importances range from finding qualified employees and getting good leads to making your work more manageable. Ultimately though, you will find that if you know people who are more capable than yourself, you will start to rise to the occasion in your own way - building both your brand, and your success.
