Networking Is A Two-Way Street

No one can deny the benefits of good networking. Relationships can grow out of networking, opportunities are born out of networking, and people from all over the world can become connected. Some people are natural born networkers, which some call “Connectors”. These people have a natural curiosity for people and the different lives they lead. Some of us have to work harder at networking to do it well. A trained networker forces his or herself to overcome the fear of introducing themselves.

When it comes down to it, that’s all it takes to network well. Too many times I have seen the world work for me based on whom I know instead of what I know. If you haven’t had much experience with networking, but want to follow your dreams, I suggest you start by building a network through your closest friends. The only opportunities I’ve ever stumbled upon came from within my network and it’s because of my network that I have been offered the opportunities that have allowed me to pursue my passions and my dreams.

You can do everything you can to network well. You can introduce yourself, be infinitely curious about someone else’s life, ask all the right questions, find a problem they have and realize that you also know someone that might be a helpful solution to them, ask for their contact information, follow up with them again and again and again. In the end, though, not everyone will be as receptive to your efforts as others. You might even get shut down right at the introduction. It’s this kind of closed mindedness that suffocates opportunity. Growth and progress happen when someone has a problem, someone else has the solution, and they meet each other. I do my best to help those people with problems and solutions meet so that everyone can benefit.

            An unwillingness to network makes it impossible to ever know what opportunities could have come from those connections. That’s why I say networking is a two way street. You can go above and beyond to try and help someone, but if they are unwilling to help themselves, you will never have the opportunity to help them. There are some sales jobs that make you cold call the same prospect time after time in hopes that eventually you will break through their walls and reach them in a way that they will respond to. That is what it feels like if you have ever tried to genuinely help someone or network just for the sake of meeting new people, but the person you are talking to is stand offish and totally unperceptive. It feels like you are trying to sell them on why you can help them.

By networking, aren’t we simply offering a little help and inspiration for free? Networking should not feel like selling. When you are networking, you are building relationships that will not necessarily ever lead to any great mutual benefit other than the pleasure of getting to know a new person. Networking, whether personal or business, is about meeting new people, and figuring out ways to help them first with the idea that maybe later down the road they might find a way to help you back.

Try to keep an open mind when talking to anyone you meet. Even when those stereotypical telemarketing calls reach your phone, that person on the other end of the line is a real person too. Whenever I get those calls, I let them give their speech and I listen for clues as to if it would possibly be something that would benefit my company or my personal life. One call I received was for a mass marketing package for my business. I let the woman give her spiel and when she had finished, she asked for the sale, 

My response was:

She wasn’t quite sure how to respond. The fact was that their marketing strategy was to blast out marketing information for our business to over 5,000 individuals in our area. They guaranteed at least 40-50 new inquiries for business, but the nature of our mission is to cater to each client as their business partner. We need to be able to offer a premium product to a few close business partners, while their strategy would force us to provide a mediocre product to as many clients as we could handle. I still took down her contact information and asked her to follow up with me if they have any other kinds of marketing packages that might better fit our business model. If you don’t give the people around you a chance, then you never know what opportunities you may have passed up. If someone approaches you with a proposal, give it a few minutes of your time. Agree not to buy anything unless you truly see the benefit, but if the benefit is there don’t be afraid to buy.

All we can do is be honest and friendly to those around us and welcome new relationships. If our networking efforts end in great opportunities, then good for us! Just don’t let yourself chase a closed minded connection while many open minded connections are in front of you waiting to hand you opportunities.

Let the people in the one-way lane sit in their lifelong traffic jam, while you join the open road!