Networking is like saving money in the bank; it’s paying yourself first. There are some tried and true methods out there for networking: association memberships, training seminars, traditional advertising. But in today’s world, you can really do it on the cheap, provided you’re willing to spend the time.
Like almost everyone in this economy, I’ve had some clients pull back on work and others turn down proposals simply because of fear of budgetary cuts. Psychology is really at work here; budgets have already been approved but people are scared to spend money because of all the negative media coverage.
As they say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Here are 5 rules for getting your tough going:
- Be nice to everyone. You never know where the next great lead may come from or who may hold the key to the door you’ve been knocking on for months now. One of my clients sits at the end of a long hallway and I always smile at the woman (let’s call her Mary) sitting in one of the offices next to hers as I pass by. Last time I was meeting with the client, asking for leads, Mary overheard the conversation. She came into the office with the phone number of the assistant to a woman I’ve been courting for a while now. Contact has been made and I’m working on opening that door. Power of a smile- it goes a long way!
- Give it ALL a whirl. Invest in the social media tools available; there are so many to choose from and you will have to determine the ROI for each of them. I find you get the best results when you use all of them at once. In the last couple of months I started a blog, improved my LinkedIn presence, created a Twitter personality and leveraged all to make new contacts. For example: while searching Twitter for other advanced Web professionals, I stumbled upon the profile of a local professional who might be able to give me some great projects. I checked him out on LinkedIn and was connected to him through only one other contact. I asked that contact to introduce us, and now I have a connection. Will it lead to work? I’m not sure. But he gave me a powerful piece of information in his email response to me; he told me there aren’t a lot of Web writers out there specializing in healthcare. I now use this piece of information in other pitches to new potential clients.
- It’s not WHO you know, it’s HOW MANY people you know. This is the reality of doing business in today’s economy, as technology and communication move at the speed of light. You have to make as many contacts as possible, or as my mother used to tell me about men, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.” (I did find one.) Use every opportunity to talk to people about your services and what you might be able to do for them. A month ago, I was at a client’s office and her husband stopped by to take her out to lunch. I asked what he did and he replied that he owns a Web design company. We made an appointment to speak and share ideas.
- Don’t be shy—tell everyone you are looking for work. Some people think it’s best to say, “It’s going great, I’m doing great,” because they are afraid to show weakness. But at during this rough time in the economy, there’s no shame in saying you are looking for new clients or new work. You don’t even have to paint it as needing more work. You can simply say, “I’m eager to stretch into new markets.” I recently mentioned to a friend that a major client pulled back and he immediately connected me to 2 new connections. One encouraged me to delve into social media more (See Rule #2) and one got me thinking about how broad my services really are, even though right now I’m focused on healthcare Web clients.
- Use your time wisely. All these rules are useful, especially when you are really looking for new work. But if you’re like me, with a really great roster of clients, and just looking down the road in six months, don’t neglect the clients at hand. Stay on deadline, be available and watch what you say on Twitter, etc. Everything is out there for everyone’s consumption; both good and bad.
As for paying yourself first, how much should go into that bank account? Good rule of thumb- for every 7-8 hours of work, spend 1 hour networking. That way, if you’ve put in a full day of work, that one hour is spent insuring there will be more full days of work.
Ahava Leibtag is a Web consultant specializing in content strategy, usability and search engine marketing. You can email her at ahava dot ahamediagroup dot com or visit www.ahamediagroup.com. Her blog is onlineitallmatters.blogspot.com and on Twitter at @ahavaL.
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This review was great! In this period of time, it is now a basic for business institutions to make their social networking more efficient and effective in reaching public to promote events to their customers. Networking allows for greater communication and flow of information, as well as reaching customers. Many businesses these days turn to social network websites on the internet, and it doesn’t even require personal loans to get on them, only a computer with internet access. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, they are all aiding businesses in reaching the public – Twitter was even used by NASA to broadcast updates from the Mars Rover. Good networking is worth installment loans to upgrade.