(I’m not talking about getting around on the tube!)
When I made the move to from Dublin to London this year, my first thoughts were, “How am I going to get to grips with this new market and build an effective network?”
As you read on, my main aim for this blog is to demonstrate to you how to be an effective networker – what will work for you in the short term, but more importantly, what will work for you long into the future.
Networking in its simplest form is doing everything you can on a regular basis to secure and expand your personal relationships in order to increase the likelihood for success—your own success and the success of others. I would also define networking as developing an extended group of people with similar interests or concerns that interact and remain in contact for mutual support and assistance. Through the benefits of technology, your networking reach can be much wider and deeper than ever before.
Networking, however, often stirs up anxiety and angst in people, but it really doesn’t have to if viewed from the correct perspective.
Here are three tips that come to my mind when I think about effective networking:
1) Stand out from the crowd – This can be as simple as polishing your shoes or dry cleaning your suit! When tastefully done, your appearance can help make you memorable. Finding connections is a great foundation for business or personal relationships.
2) Show up to meetings with purpose – Reaching out to others with a genuine desire to help them accomplish their goals is the best way to succeed.
3) Show up on professional networks and actively post comments so people will keep you at the top of their mind -iIf you added just three people a day on LinkedIn, over a year’s time you would create more than 1,000 new connections. Each connection offers multiple possibilities in business.
Which of these three tips could you improve upon? Any others you’d add to the list? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Ian is a Consultant in London and loves the networking potential on the District Line.
