Your Contact List
Networking should not be a random collection of meetings and contacts. To ensure you get the best out of your efforts you need an objective before you start. Who are you trying to meet and why? If your objective is to get money for a new venture then you might want to meet VC’s and other entrepreneurs that have raised money in the past. If you don’t know any of the people you need to meet then you have to create a secondary list of the people that you do know who you think can make the necessary introductions.
In most cases it’s better to organize your contact list into A, B and C clients. These lists will give you some idea of who would be helpful while highlighting those people who may not be very useful without some encouragement. Create a spreadsheet of all the people you know and write your goals down. Link the people with the goals so you finish with a “who to know” list.
Take Your List For A Walk
Generally it’s much better to be networking before you need something. Exercise your existing network. There is an entire industry that is trying to take advantage of this on-line. Contact your lists in a personal and relevant way and ask for their help. Be specific about what you are asking for. Give your contacts the names of people you are trying to meet and plenty of background on why you are asking for help and what you are trying to accomplish. The key here is to track your interactions and make sure you know who is doing what. It’s easy to forget who said what and what the next step was supposed to be. If someone says they are going to make an introduction for you then make a note and make sure you follow up with them.
Build Structure Around Your Efforts
Know what you want before you go into the meeting. I cannot stress this enough. There is nothing more irritating than a meeting that goes nowhere because your contact has no idea why you are there. I recently got a call from a guy who said he wanted to get together and talk about opportunities. When I asked him what opportunities he was referring to so I could prepare for the meeting he said, “oh, nothing comes to mind right now but I’m sure we can put our heads together and come up with something”. I don’t have time for these types of meetings as much as I’d like to chat I just cannot afford the time (and neither can you).
Keep Notes During Your Meetings
A lot gets said in a meeting. We are all human so we have the ability to forget even the most important pieces of information. You don’t have to sit down and write everything the other person says. Just get the main points and the action items. If you say you are going to send the person an address or make an introduction then make sure you do it.
Follow Up
This stage would make for a lengthy post by itself but here are the highlights. This is not about the e-mail you send out the day after meeting with someone thanking them for the meeting, telling them how much you enjoyed talking with them and appreciate their perspective. This is about the ongoing communication you have with the people you have contacted and met.
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