How highly successful people do networking (and what success means!)

Once in my late 20s, I was sitting across the room with a VP from a company I was working with. He suddenly interrupts me and tells me: "I like you. You are not focusing on selling me anything, you are focusing on building a relationship with me in the long term. This will pay you off immensely". Needless to say, our partnership was excellent: we could mutually reach our goals, and we still keep in contact nowadays. But the value of that day went so much further as it made me realize one single truth:

(1) Networking is not achieving a short term transaction. Success in networking is about building win-win and long-lasting relations. It is a (2) continuous give-it first process that requires a constant time investment, similar to learning a language. Therefore, it is not a set of actions you do just when you need something, and it is a (3) ongoing and constant process as people might need you even if they do not proactively reach to you. Share relevant pieces of information, diffuse your knowledge, help people to succeed in their life journey. Do it because you like it. (4) Authenticity is key.

If you are not authentic in this "new way" of networking:

• you will get bored
• people will get bored with you
• your personal brand will be heavily affected (and rightfully so!)

So how to network effectively so people will spontaneously come and want to work with you?

Please focus on these Key Principles first:

• Define your end goal: the why and the focus are uttermost important. What is that you really want to do? Do you want to land a job? Do you want to get expertise in a particular area? Write down specifically what you want to achieve and by which to give yourself a challenging yet realistic deadline. Ask yourself all the WHYs until the WHYs are over! Do not judge your WHYs. They told you that sector is "bad" but you like it? Hell, go for it!

E.g. I want to land a job in the Technological Sector (Specific) in San Francisco (Specific), in a company that is a multinational (specific) working in providing marketing automation services. I want to achieve this, based on what I realistically know from other people, 6 months from now (realistic deadline). WHY is this important? Because I like the sector. WHY is this important? Because people are nice there and I like the job culture. WHY is this important? Because I naturally work best in an environment where I can share. WHY? I am just like this, these are my values. (Whys are over).

• What can you give first? Do not connect to obtain, give first. If you network the old way, people will get bored! Can you even imagine how many people are coming to you every day asking for a job?

Imagine you are the Tech Founder of "Cool Startup", one of the most prominent gigs in Silicon Valley. The Founder of "Cool Startup", Larry Zuck, is a well-intended guy and really wants to help people. However just today he received the following:

50 people randomly adding him on LinkedIn, without even an introduction note (!)

10 people adding him with a short introductory note like "I would love to work at your startup"

5 people writing him an InMail: "Sir I believe my skills will be good for you. Here is my CV"

1 person writing him an InMail like: "Dear Larry Zuck, I hope this mail finds you well. I appreciate you are busy and in fact, we do not know each other. I am however writing as I am humbled by what you do at "Cool Startup", and - besides the company - I have seen your progression and it inspired me! I would love to share with you the content Y, which might be useful? In any case, if you will ever have time in the near future, I would love to have a 10-minute virtual coffee and learn from you. Thank you in advance and happy to share more content Y, if useful!"

The numbers are not random. It really happens a lot that people connect without introducing themselves or, in lesser numbers, writing to obtain something. Fair. Very few people connect on a long term view and possibly sharing something first.

So I guess the answer is obvious: Larry will connect to the last type of person....most of the time. Of course, even the most effective networking method cannot yield a 100% success rate. However, if you go from a 10% to 40% response rate it is already a success.

More on what you can give first:

Before sending any message, take a step back and learn the whole methodology. Do the following constantly:

• Share the knowledge That's right, it is not about you...for now! Think about all the ways you can spread knowledge and experience through your channels: there is no best Coach than someone who went through a specific set of challenges. You can talk about how to reach a career goal, how to find a job, how to manage teams, how one particular tool has changed companies for the better.
• Re-share posts. It can be colleagues, coworkers, or people in need. Please give visibility to others. It is nice, it is not costly and it is the right thing to do.
• Write useful updates and articles on LinkedIn. When you share an article, consider writing your point of view. Short and to the point. Add value to people in your network.
• Recommend people and endorse them for skills. You have people you admire in your network. Surprise them with a highly personalized LinkedIn recommendation or just endorse their skills!
• Facilitate new connections. If somebody reaches you out on a specific topic or connection, do not hesitate and build them a bridge on LinkedIn. Very often there is a person in your network that can help the person who is contacting you. It is not time lost, it is pure networking.
• Share the knowledge. Improve yourself, put aside 1 hour for learning every day: it is the same you do for Gym anyway :). Learn continuously new things or expand existing topics and knowledge. Do not settle. Then share back your findings, your interpretation, your point of view back on LinkedIn.

Ok, now time to forge new connection. One rule: reach but with consideration.

• Reach out with consideration and after proper research. Do not shy away and reach out to your 1st-degree connection or any 2nd/3rd degree in other organizations. However, do a proper LinkedIn research first: make sure to contact people that really can help you and that you can help out! If you find an interesting profile and do not have a common contact, either add them to your network (IMPORTANT: always with a highly personalized introduction note!) or by emailing them. Tell them in a super short introduction note or InMail: why you are passionate about him or her, what you are passionate about, how you can help them, what you are searching for with full honesty and why. Tell them about your values and that you would love to learn about them for real!

E.g.

Hi John,

we do not know each other, so I hope you do not mind me reaching out of blue. My name is Diana and I worked X years in the field Y.

I have found your profile on LinkedIn and see you have great experience in marketing automation. As I am passionate about the sector and I believe in growing companies through scaling, I would love to have a small chat with you and understand your experiences and challenges you are trying to solve.

I appreciate you are busy, but I hope you can find 15 minutes.

Happy to reciprocate in any way I can,

John X

?Marketing Guru @ Company Z

Be patient: the Seeding Strategy.

• Give them space. Once a connection is created, give them space and time to answer: a lot of apparently super successful people might be going through a busy or difficult time. Be empathetic. Do not assume they just don't want to answer. If you don't receive a follow-up, try to write again a short note in 7 working days! If you don't receive an answer, try again in 10 working days.
• The "seeding strategy": when a contact answer, please please please do not fire away your CV and how much you want a job! Stick to your new-found perspective: learn about them, help to solve a challenge. Build a genuine connection!

What else can you do?

• Don't be shy to ask for LinkedIn recommendations. If you did a good job in the past, including University projects, don't be shy to ask people for a recommendation of your work. People mostly love to give a hand to other people. And they will help people that irradiates that energy, passion, and genuine commitment to what they do. Again, ask only a selected target group: never work on a Bulk!
• Leverage your professional branding on social media platforms. Add a professional photo to your LinkedIn, build a killer summary with highly selected bullet points. List carefully your achievements (rather than responsibilities) in your LinkedIn and CV, but keep your bullet point between 3-5 of them. Equally important, add all the skills you have accumulated so people in your network can vouch for them.
• Be patient. Networking is a long process: it takes time and the response rate is not ideal. This is fine: be patient! If you do everything because you like to elevate people, the process will be much smoother and you will have a greater sense of satisfaction.
• Do not underestimate what you know. "But I am just new"; "But I am just a new grad"; "But I have only 2 years of experience". I have heard this before: this is the voice of your inner critic. Do not listen. I have always seen (always!) value in everybody. Believe it, it is true: do not be afraid and share!
• Follow up with people you helped and learn. If you coached or mentored someone out of passion, you will have a great sense of satisfaction. While you are not asking anything back (you should not!), you can at least check in with the person and see if what you did was useful or not. Then learn from it!