Networking strategy is essential for your development. Daniel Colombo created this guide of 10 rules that can help you build your network of contacts.
In today’s world, networking is essential for your professional development. It involves creating a network of contacts with people who have similar interests to yours, in order to learn, exchange ideas, and discover job and business opportunities that can enhance your professional profile.
Networking is built progressively, and you can do it through social networks, especially those aimed at the professional market, such as LinkedIn; and also at meetings, events, training sessions, clubs and associations representing your activity. You can do it virtually or in person, and even through third parties who introduce you to the right people.
To undertake this process, you will need to know your market very well and the one you want to target, have clear goals, develop a solid and consistent professional profile, and it helps a lot to have your personal brand established. It will also be necessary to research and investigate beforehand and constantly, and to have a value offer (what you have to deliver to the network) that is interesting and different from what already exists.
You can start with the contacts you already have, for example, your classmates, professional colleagues you worked with, former employers, your neighbors and general acquaintances who are aligned with your profile.
There is a belief that networking is only about selling and obtaining benefits for oneself: nothing could be further from the truth. It is even counterproductive to want to sell immediately, without giving the other person the opportunity to discover something interesting in your professional profile. Remember that the goal of networking is to mutually empower each other.
The 10 rules for networking success
To help you network, I have created these ten rules that can serve as a guide:
It is necessary to be clear about what you are going to contribute to others by fostering the relationship over a long period of time. People and companies are willing to open doors to those who have earned their trust.
This point is key, because all networking starts with a genuine interest on your part to network, and on the other to establish links. Always start by finding out what others need, and don’t put your anxiety to sell or get something before showing your worth.
As you may have noticed, you need to connect internally with your meaning and purpose beforehand so as not to derail your networking efforts. Getting to know people means taking an interest in them and helping them achieve THEIR goals: this tactic is practically irresistible to get them to pay attention to you and even help or advise you.
Not everyone will be a target audience, as we call it in communication. Take advantage of your differences to network with those who know how to appreciate it. And no networking is the same as another: you need to design different strategies for each person. For example, it is not the same to relate with the manager of a company, than with the members of the board of directors of a professional association, or with head hunters.
At this point I would like to be emphatic: if you don’t move, nothing will happen. It’s about creating a living network, in permanent transformation. My suggestion is that you start by making 5 new contacts per week in person or virtually, and 5 more per day through social networks, always in a personalized way. All this for a year straight, and then evaluate the results.
Don’t invade others; instead, try to fit in naturally. Remember that insistence is not the same as persistence, and that is precisely the quality you need to develop in successful networking. Also, train yourself to accept “no” as an answer.
When building your network of contacts, it is important to always be honest and have good intentions, even if others may not behave in the same way towards you. To do this, establish clear rules; for example, if you want to make a business offer, you should ask first, and, of course, you should not take advantage of others or take advantage of them.
As I mentioned earlier, networking is a process that takes time. Once it gets going, interactions are quick and agile. To give it a boost, you can learn to spot opportunities to create a sense of need, sparking curiosity, delivering information, inviting, sharing.
Within the soft skills, all of them will help you to network. You can work with conceptual maps to organize your ideas and how to share them with other people. I also suggest that you develop different strategies and presentation materials, which should be up to date and available. The goal is to conquer a space in that immense world of your professional network, and to stand out for your merits, solvency and differentials.
Human quality is essential, because you cannot network by being a bad person. Try to make your connections long-lasting by creating honest relationships. Authenticity, which is the opposite of creating a character for your professional role, is the internal value that can help you make long-lasting connections.
