In Your Face!
Maybe it’s just me but there’s something about the phrase “networking” that puts me on edge. For a freelance consultant this is probably a very bad thing and certainly an admission of weakness but I automatically think of car sales and double glazing calls when I hear the phrase “networking”. Yet surely it is the bed rock of business development and an essential skill for all serious minded business people to master? Or is it?
I can’t help but think of Billy Connolly’s line that “anyone who wants to be a politician should automatically be barred from being one”. Anyone who sets out to network should automatically be stopped from doing it. There are the exocet missiles amongst us who manage to lock on to a target and strike immediately but for many, networking can be unfulfilling and time consuming with very little benefit for either you or the person you’ve tried to make idle chat with.
I will go so far as to say that you need to make the effort to put yourself at events that are relevant to your business but for those like me who have a crushing fear of being disingenuous or coming over like a used car salesman how about concentrating on your existing client base first?
Doing your job as well as you possibly can, adding value at every given opportunity and going that extra mile to support your current work colleagues is, apart from a good moral and professional approach to a job, the most important first step to building the network of the future. Some or all of the team you work with today will ultimately end up working elsewhere on other schemes and you only need one of the people who has worked with you in the past to recommend you for a future position to open the door to a new and exciting commission.
Cold calling, for want of a better expression, is statistically stacked against you as people want the security of a recommendation or past experience of having worked with you, especially in the current climate where the bottom line is scrutinised with such zeal that failure is costly for all implicated parties. Building a positive reputation starts now, on your existing job and on previous jobs. It’s not something you can work on when you’re looking for your next job – by that time the ship has already sailed.
Image: Nathan Jongewaard
Hi Owen,
I just wanted to let you know you’re not alone: I feel exactly the same way.
I can add that after meeting some great project managers (mainly on Congresses) I developed a genuine interest on others. And that’s a key point for me. Let me illustrate this with something that just happened on the PMI EMEA Congress. I met someone who just moved to Dubai and was still a bit lost there. So I introduced him to a friend of mine who is in Dubai for some years and in the same industry he was. The day after this guy just couldn’t thank me enough.
Now if I have done this with the intent to “get credit” and collect the favor afterwards, then I’m pretty sure that (i) I would sound like a salesman and that (ii) I couldn’t have done it. The point is I was able to help out someone and it didn’t cost me nothing at all. And the cherry on the top of the cake: I now have some credit with that guy.
Luis