The power of network

Last week as part of my #60dayschallenge to #saynototheslump, I posted about power base reactivation and its role in how Sales for Startups came about as a business.

A few people got in touch to ask more about it, so I thought I’d follow up with some more detail on what I mean by it and how I’ve tapped into the power of network.?

As per this high quality diagram below, I think of network in circles, with ties loosening as you get further out.?

We come across loads of different people during the course of our careers and lives, and those people all have their own network and are coming across people day in day out themselves.?

Would you say you’re known for staying in touch with people? Do your friends, family and clients always tell you, “you’re great at staying in touch, I always find it so hard.”

There is so much mediocrity when it comes to nurturing and engaging your network consistently. For many it’s a set and forget.?

So harnessing the power of your network presents a huge opportunity for A-team players.?

Connections = clients?

Just because you’re connected to people, it doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy or refer.?

But you definitely won’t be getting either a purchase or a referral if your contacts don’t know what you’re trying to do and what your mission is.?

It’s not enough to have connections on LinkedIn and assume that you’re going to get leads through people. You need to proactively build strategies that mean that your contacts understand what you can offer and what you’re trying to do so when they do have someone that is looking to buy, you’re the first person that comes to mind.?

Also if you want to attract top talent, staying in touch is a business growth strategy. How many good candidates have you met and forgot about?

When was the last time you sent a message to the great candidates you met?

What kind of strategies?

In my video last week I talked about catching up with an old contact that I hadn’t met for nearly a decade and treated them to dinner, and then followed up with drinks a month later (they asked to!). This opportunity materialised into the first client of Sales for Startups, six months after that first dinner.

Clearly it’s not realistic to try and do this with every single one of your contacts, so manage your expectations. Our goal here is not to hit a home run every contact. It’s to build an engaged network.?

Whatever your business is trying to do, there will be contacts and connections that you have that are more likely to bring you business than others. It can be helpful to map your network to think about this more clearly, and decide where to spend your time and efforts.

Build the systems

LinkedIn and social media in general provides the opportunity to have a baseline level of communications with relative ease. So there’s not really any excuse for not communicating to your network regularly what you’re doing, who you help, how it works etc.?

With the contacts you’ve identified as being potentially able to support you with business more directly, there are plenty of ways that you can strengthen your relationships.?

It might be as simple as regularly catching up on the phone, it might be more appropriate to do the dinner or drinks, or just send them articles that relate to their market or clients as you come across them.?