Connecting with the right People

Connecting with the right People

Convention Speakers

No matter how great you may perform in certain areas of your life, you will still need people to assist you in other areas, where you are not very strong. We all reach a chasm in our lives or businesses where we feel unable to proceed without the support of someone else. This is where effective networking will help us and accelerate our progress. Trying to build a successful business without networking is like carrying a heavy suitcase at the airport without any wheels to help you. Effective networking on the other hand is like walking along a travelator at the airport with a perfectly balanced suitcase on wheels. When you engage in proper networking it will feel like someone has put a travelator under your feet, helping to transport you to where you need to go. When you connect with the right people they serve as a catalyst that accelerates your ability to achieve your goals.

Meaningful Relationships - Convention Speakers

The Dunbar 150 theory states that we can only realistically have 150 meaningful relationships. The average Facebook user has around 130 friends. So this theory seems to hold true even with social media. There are ways to expand these connections and by using customer relationship software it is possible to connect with significantly more people. Remember these are tools that will help you to keep track of your extensive network. They by no means are a substitute for real face to face contact and relationship building. There are great tools available like Gist.com, rapportive.com and plaxo.com that make managing your social networks easier and more streamlined.

Treat everyone you meet like a VIP. - Convention Speakers

Ensure that you have their express permission before you add them to any mailing list or newsletter. At live events it is always a great idea to collect as many suitable business cards as possible. Never ever add these people to any mailing list or mass emailing system without getting their permission. You will very quickly alienate people if you follow this reckless strategy.

You build meaningful relationships by making people feel special

It is crucial that you take a real interest in everyone you meet and that you strive to treat them as VIP’s. Always try to go the extra mile by glancing at their bio on LinkedIn, Facebook or twitter. It is always great to have something to comment to people about when you meet them. Things like, it is great to meet a fellow engineer etc.

There is one word people love to hear more than any other, their name. Use people first names as often as realistically possible in any communication with them. This applies whether you are speaking to them in person or if you are communicating with them via email or on any of the social media sites. By using the sweetest sounding word in their vocabulary will build great rapport with everyone you interact with. Please make sure that you pronounce and spell people’s names correctly.

Connection is Crucial - Convention Speakers

Get out of the idea that you must always be in broadcast mode. No one likes to interact with people that only push content one way. Respond to as many people within your social media network as possible. I try to comment on at least 3 targeted people’s blogs every day communicate with 5 targeted people on Facebook every day and join one or two targeted twitter conversations a day.

Strive to be someone that always adds value, helps and connects with properly targeted people daily and you will build an effective social media network. These contributions must never be made with a hidden agenda. You will be completely transparent; people will know when you are not being authentic. As you build your social equity you will attract the right type of people into your network. The law of reciprocity will most certainly be activated and you will form great long term sustainable relationships with people that matter.

Author: Andrew Horton Convention Speakers

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Social Media is about expanding your Traditional Networking and Marketing Strategies

Social Media is about expanding your Traditional Networking Strategies

Effective networking has been one of the cornerstones of building great businesses, since the dawn of time. Before the explosion of social media it was a pretty simple process and was conducted face to face, at events designed to build relationships and meaningful connections.

All the new social media options available now, have completely changed the game. There are so many new options available. New ways of opening doors and ways of finding people to connect to are popping up every day. All these changes are effecting not only the way we connect, but also the pace and scope of the connections we can make in a very short space of time.

These changes have seen a massive paradigm shift in how we function, communicate and do business, both online and offline. It has now become more important than ever to be highly versed in the art of effective networking. Building quality relationships and making real meaningful connections is still important. But the new high tech methods of networking has now made it far easier to find the right people to connect with and the process of making contact with them is far more streamlined.

No matter how technologically advanced we get; it will always be human beings that will make the final decisions. The principles of networking will always apply. The more people you really connect with and the more people you can offer mutually beneficial opportunities to. The better and more effective will be your network. Technology is not changing this it is just changing how we get to make these connections.

You can now be sitting in your bedroom at 3 am in the morning communicating with someone anywhere in the world. Technology has turned us into a completely 24 hour society, where different time zones are virtually irrelevant. If you are willing and able to put in the effort, you can connect with anyone, anywhere at any time.

The trick to using this amazing new technology effectively is to use your social media as a method for communicating any bulk messages or ideas. Never ever send out a bulk non personal email that has no soul or meaning to the recipient. This spray and pray strategy does far more harm than good. People are so overwhelmed with emails and information that when they receive unsolicited messages they actually get turned off by the sender of these bulk messages. The only way to do this effectively is to apply one on one scaling and to ensure that you are sending out personal, meaningful messages that are aligned with the recipient’s values and needs.

We live in such a now world, with instant popcorn, microwaves and instant everything that we expect networking to be instant too. Nothing could be further from the truth. Building relationships and connecting with people takes time. A superficial connection with thousands of people is of little or no value.

To become really successful and turn yourself into a super achiever requires searching through all your connections. Identifying the ones that you feel will contribute to your future success. Then developing a focused strategy to communicate with and build long term connections with these people.

The art of connecting, referring, helping people and sharing information about products and services has not changed. Networking remains a mutually beneficial process where people share ideas, leads, information, resources and support each other. None of these universal truths has changed. The main thing technology has changed is the pace of discovering the right people to connect with and number of contacts we can make in a very short space of time has grown exponentially.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za