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Be Your Own Publicist |
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Forget stepping into the spotlight. Here’s how to create your own.
Tom Hanks doesn’t need anyone’s help. Not anymore. If you’ve ever seen the American show bosom buddies you’ll know the reason. It ran for four years, and Hanks never won an Emmy award for it, but he put on a dress and everyone in town suddenly knew his name. Tom Hanks was visible.
Think about your career, who knows your name? Hell, how many peers remotely understand your talents, your drive, your potential? If you’re not sure, you need a publicist. Not a Hollywood type – just someone who knows you well. Someone like…. You. What follow is an eight step, do it yourself networking plan, whether you work in a colony of cubicles or have your company name stenciled on your bakkie. Put it into practice and watch the job offers, promotions and clients accumulate like interest does.
Step one
Put down the gun.
“Good networking is more about farming than about hunting,” says Dr. Misner, author of the world’s best known marketing secret. “It’s about cultivating relationships with other business professionals.” He used that theory when founding BNI (Business Network International), a referral service with more than 54 000 people in all fields trading contracts around the globe. The point being, you don’t track down the big elephant. You plant some tasty grass, lure him in and let him go back and tell the rest of the herd. Then you’ll have elephants in your field for years.
Step two
Accumulate trust
“People do business with people they trust” says Misner. “Until you establish trust, you’re not effectively networking” heed Tim Robin’s example in the Shawshank redemption. With one ballsy gesture – helping the bill guard with his taxes and asking only for a few beers for his inmates in return – he planted the seeds of a network that would bring him freedom.
So sow. This week make one selfless gesture towards someone in your office, like offering an eleventh hour hand to a projec5t team on deadline. Then repeat every week for a month. That’s four seeds scattered, four trusts gained. Just remember…
Step three
Be selfish about your selflessness
Don’t help just anyone; who are the four people in your company (or industry, if you’re self employed) who need to know you? This roster is different for every field, says Misner but some classics never fade: your boss’s boss, a key human resources contact, the guy who organizes the corporate golf tournament. Look for opportunities that play to your strengths. To get the ball rolling, simply use what Misner calls the four magic words; “How can I help?”
Step four
Guard the door
What if the parking lot guy collected business cards instead of payments? How many contacts would he have in an hour? The busy networkers have mastered this philosophy. “put yourself in the doorway that potential clients will naturally walk through” says Lynne Waymon, owner of ContactsCount.com. she tells the story of a twenty-eight year financial planner who specialized in retirement strategies. He took up ball room dancing and met so many 40 to 50 year olds that his doorway quickly became jammed. Where do your potential targets congregate?
Step five
Become a parasite
Networking gurus call them symbiotic or synergistic relationships: your partner with a compatible non competitive peer and exploit each other shamelessly for mutual benefit. “Put a lawyer, chartered accountant, financial planner and banker in a room for an hour and they going to do business” says Misner. So if you’re a plumber, every contractor, electrician and building inspector in town should know how good you are. If the don’t, why not?
Step six
Ditch your pride, shyness and fear.
They are the Three Deadly Sins of networking. The prideful guy scoffs at using contacts for blatant ladder-climbing. He’s going to make it on his own, damn it. “Those people end up in the unemployment line,” says Misner. “Very few people become successful in a vacuum” as for shyness and fear, they can cripple otherwise ambitious, talented people. “But even if you’re shy” says Waymon, “you can learn a few networking skills that you can turn on at any given moment.” She cites film director Mike Nichols (the graduate), who refers to himself as a ‘site-specific extrovert.’ To shy-proof yourself in social situations, prepare yourself to answer the two inevitable questions: “What do you do?” too many people take a humble approach: “Oh, I’m a CA.” show love for your work – there’s a difference between bragging and branding “first, give them your best talent or skill,” says Waymon. “then tell them a time when you saved the day, solved the problem or served the client.” And everyone, no matter what he does, has a story. A better answer: “I’m a CA. I negotiate with the Tax Man.” They say, “Wow, that’s sounds like a tough job” You say, “it can be , but last year I convinced them that my clients peanut farm was a business, not a hobby.” You’ve suddenly become one sexy CA. “How are you? (a.k.a “what’s new?”) This query usually elicits chit chat about missed line outs and rain delays, which accomplishes nada. Waymon recommends answering with ‘gives and gets’ – what you give them (“I hear you need more office space”) and what you’d like to get (“I’m looking for a new assistant”). This approach makes for a rich conversation and a good reason to follow up later.
Step seven
Tend your field. Too many contacts languish in our Palm Pilots. Every Friday for the next six months schedule a quick phone call to someone you should have spoken to in the past six months. Yes, schedule it. Otherwise you won’t do it. Neglect is the tennis elbow of a networking plan – even if it doesn’t end your career, it will certainly slow you down. “Remember,” says Misner, “its not net-sit or net-eat. It’s network.
Step eight
Say thanks. Misner’s team recently asked 2000 business pros if they were satisfied with the number of referrals they receive. 80% said no. then they were asked if they gave any kind of gift when they received a referral. Only 20% said yes. “I don’t know about you,” says Misner, “but that feels like a possible correlation.” Thank you”s take different forms - a hand written note, a lunch, a small freebee – but go a long way towards cementing a business relationship. Misner sums it up with two words: “Givers gain.”
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