Why You Need A New Connection Strategy

I have written quite a bit about why and how you should talk to many more strangers to expand your business connections, now you’ll need a strategy. Strategy can be a scary word, but don’t get too hung up on it. It doesn’t need to be a 10-page document, just a general direction with an end point and actions to get there.

Great lawyers hit the courtroom with a strategy already in mind because if they don’t, they will undoubtedly fail. A football game is just the same. Coaches and managers will devise a strategy before the season starts and then for each game before they kick off. Your efforts to build a great connection base are no different. You’ll need two strategies: one for your offline networking in face-to-face situations, and also one for your online networking, and they probably won’t be much different.

Determine your end point

The first part of devising your strategy is to decide what your end point or goal is going to be. Is it to be connected to a particular person or persons, to do business with a particular company, to become world famous at something or just to grow your business connections or followers? Whatever it is, note it down.

Now you have your end point. All you have to do now is work out how to get there.

Let’s say you want to meet with the CEO of your national airline — so you now have your end goal. Where will you find this person? As CEO, you won’t find them at the smaller networking events so you’re going to have to think bigger. As CEO of a national company, do they present at conferences, attend big business award functions or fly often? Airport lounges, particularly those with designated business travel lounges, are good places to bump into other business people. These are the places you may need to go to in order to have a chance at meeting the person you want to bump in to then follow the eight principles I wrote about in an earlier post.

Show up in person

I’m not suggesting you spend all day in an airport lounge looking for new prospects or hoping to chat to your hero, but when you’re traveling, be alert to who is around you and how you can start a conversation with them. Likewise, be on the lookout at conferences and seminars and if your opportunity is there, position yourself to be able to start that conversation.

If the person is presenting at the conference, don’t attempt to chat before they have given their presentation. They won’t thank you for it and you will have more success if you wait until afterwards. Beforehand, they will be mentally fixing on their speech and nothing else; so don’t interrupt their train of thought. When you do wait until after they’ve presented, you can easily start chatting about how useful you found their speech, and what you will do because of it. Most speakers like to feel that they are helping to change the world and making a difference somewhere, no matter how small, so take advantage of this piece of knowledge.

Show up online

You’ll also probably find them online, as any switched-on business person will have at least a LinkedIn profile. You’ll need to make a list of the people you wish to make contact with, as this list could be quite different from your offline list. There are people in the business world you would never come across in person because they live in a different town or even a different continent.

Once you have your list of people, search for them on LinkedIn as this is the most obvious place for them to show up online. When you find their profile, have a look to see if you have anyone in common and what groups they are a member of so you can send them a message.

Make your message stand out

Your message to your online prospect needs to be very similar to what you would say if you were networking freestyle. Begin by finding something in common, that might simply be a connection you both share. Don’t be tempted to send a note full of sales patter or, even worse, an over-the-top message about how amazing you think the person is and how you’d love to connect. Sure, tell them why you’re contacting them, but keep it brief, to the point (less than 100 words) and finish it off with a great subject line and a final sentence containing something that will catch their eye.

Following up from a meeting in person

Without the follow-up, you may just have been wasting your time, so this part is crucial and is the part that frequently gets left out. We’ve all been guilty of not following up, thinking it’s too hard, or thinking our new connection won’t remember us, or we may just be plain scared of the rejection that could follow. I urge you to bite the bullet and do it.

Try following up by telephone first, but if they don’t answer, never leave a message. If you leave a message, you’re relying on them calling you back and if they have a hectic schedule at that time they probably won’t call. If you follow up again after you’ve left a message that they haven’t responded to, you may look a bit desperate.

Following up from a virtual message

It’s much harder to follow up from a virtual message that you have sent someone without annoying them, so remember, softly, softly does it. If they haven’t responded to you, they may just not be interested, or your message didn’t interest or resonate with them.

Get name dropping

I once had a meeting with a lady in PR about an event I wanted to organise called ‘The Say Hello Project’. I couldn’t create this event on my own; I needed some strategic partners to help me along and in return they got exposure by association to the event. She liked the idea so I told her my plans about which two other companies I would like to see involved. It just so happened that her husband worked at one of those companies. This meant I could leverage her name when I spoke to him as a way in — a warm call rather than cold-calling him.

Talking to more strangers will not only grow your connection base, but may open up new opportunities for you and for others in the future if you allow them to. Your life may also be richer from the diverse people you learn something new from by going about your daily business, so make the effort to chat to others more, set yourself a goal of 5 new people each day and see what happens.

What experiences have you had chatting to strangers?

This is an excerpt from my latest book “Start with Hello” (Wiley) which is out now. It will help you meet more people you don’t currently know and grow your connection base so grab a complimentary sample of a chapter today.

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