Networking Without a Net

A robust network is a key element of success, writes Dorie Clark in How to Make the Right Connections When You Don’t Already Have an “In.” So how do you start? More to the point, how do you create a meaningful network when the people you know don't have the connections you need?

It’s not easy to break into new, high-end circles when you don’t already have an “in.” But it’s not impossible. 

Clark proposes four strategies that will help you establish yourself and start building the network you need. Read the post. Follow her advice. Create your own "in."

Networking 101 or, You're Doing It Wrong

There's a right way and a wrong way to network, says Mike Steib, CEO of XO Group. And you're probably doing it wrong... 

In Don't Just Network — Build Your 'Meaningful Network' to Maximize Your Impact, Steib gives a detailed look at the right way. It's chock full of practical guidance for everyone whose networking is critical to their success:

Avoid temptations to talk about yourself. Pivot their questions about you back to them. Watch how eagerly this person takes the chance to tell you more about his or her passions. 

Read the post. Take it to heart. Then follow Steib's advice, and start building a Meaningful Network. 

It Takes More Than Facebook To Get New Clients

Yes, the importance of social media to your marketing efforts continues to grow. Yes, social media can increase your visibility, and make it easier to find you. Yes, potential clients are probably looking at your social media profiles to get a better idea of who you are before they pick up the phone to call.

But having a Facebook page (or a Twitter feed or an Instagram profile or an active presence on any of the other hundreds of social media channels) isn’t going to turn your firm into a potential-client magnet, writes Sam Glover in Social Media May Help Your Business, but It’s No Silver Bullet:

“When social media works, it works because the lawyer who is using it is just networking. Not Networking with wine and cheese and a stack of business cards, but actually getting to know people.”

Read the post, and start thinking of social media as the ice breaker, not the main conversation.

Stop Networking. Start Connecting

Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong, writes Eric Dewey in 7 Reasons Networking is Dead ... or should be. Maybe we shouldn’t be focused on networking, but rather on connecting:

“Networking is very [What’s In It For Me?]. If you've ever been on the receiving end of this type of interrogation, you know the feeling it creates. And you’ve made a mental note to avoid this person in the future. On the other hand, connecting is about how to help each other. Connection requires you to give something, your advice, your thoughts, maybe only your genuine participation in the conversation or a sympathetic ear.”

Read the post, and think about how you can better connect with the people you meet. Because you’re not speed dating and you don’t need an elevator pitch develop a meaningful relationship. You need to connect.

Successful Networking Hinges on Follow-Up

Networking is not a race, writes Cari Twitchell in An Essential Networking Ingredient: Followup. Not even a marathon. It's an exercise in building relationships, and that takes time, and it takes effort, and most of all, it takes focused and methodical follow-up:  

One meeting is not enough to build a relationship. Invest your time reconnecting and building upon what you already know about your new lead. Send a follow-up email or handwritten note. Ask to schedule another meeting for a month or two out. Share emails, blog posts, and other items that you believe your contact will find interesting.

Read the post. And start following Twitchell's advice. To stop stumbling on the road to relationships.

Don't Be a Jerk, and Other Tips for Promoting Yourself

There's a fine line between ensuring that your skills and experience are recognized, and coming across as an arrogant braggart, writes Dorie Clark in How to Promote Yourself Without Looking Like a Jerk. One way to avoid crossing it? Be humble:

... even when you’re promoting yourself, it’s essential to express humility. That doesn’t in any way mean hiding your abilities. However, it does require being sensitive to the fact that some accomplishments may make others feel jealous or inadequate, and you don’t want to appear glib or self-congratulatory.

Read the post. Take Clark's advice. Because nobody likes to talk to a jerk...

C'mon in, lawyers! The social networking water's fine!

Aviva Cuyler's "LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: The Changing Face(s) of Social Networking for Lawyers" on JD Supra. "Lawyers understand networking," writes Cuyler. So why is "social networking" so hard for so many? For starters, it's the vocabulary, which makes "everything just a touch harder to understand than it needs to be." But there's nothing hard to understand about Cuyler's article. And after you've read it, there probably won't be much that is hard to understand about social networking, either. It's a great overview of the Big Three for lawyers, as well legal marketers and anyone trying to articulate the value of social networking to lawyers. Read it, and jump in. You might get a little wet, but there's no better way to figure out how it works for you and your practice.

Stop fishing at the referral stream.

Thom Singer's "How To Refer Thom Singer" on his blog, Some Assembly Required. I've featured Singer's posts before. Thom knows relationships: how to establish them, how to nurture them, how to turn them into revenue. So when he writes that it's your job to give your contacts the tools they need to send potential new business your way, you'd do well to heed his advice. Because you don't need referrals for work you cannot or should not or absolutely will not do. Educating your referral sources is your responsibility. If you want them to help you succeed, that is. Still not convinced? I'll bet Brian Tannebaum can persuade you.

Hey buddy, can you spare some time? I promise you won't regret it.

Heather Townsend's "9 classic mistakes guest speakers make" on her blog The Thoughts and Ideas Of The Efficiency Coach (now at The Efficiency Coach). Don't let the title fool you. These mistakes aren't limited to guest speakers. And frankly, if you step back and think about them, the nine mistakes Townsend identifies are probably committed in one way or another by virtually every professional at any networking event: "not thinking about your audience," "no prepared introduction," "going on too long," etc. The point is that whether you're speaking to one person or one hundred, they're giving you their time. Townsend's post will help ensure that they don't regret it.

Making your first time count, every time.

Allison Shields' "Elevating the Elevator Speech" at Lawyerist.com. An elevator speech, like a cover letter for job seekers or a slogan for law firms, is most conspicuous when it's bad. Rather than engaging your interlocutor, it makes them want to flee. But a good elevator speech isn't easy: it needs to pique your interlocutor's interest, engage them, articulate what you do in terms they understand and can relate to. Shields' post will help you prepare that speech, the one people like to hear, the one that demonstrates the value you add, the one that just might get you to Step 2. Read it, and start practicing. Because, as the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression.

Leaving your future to chance is never a good strategy.

Thom Singer's "Telling, Gelling, and Selling: Three Tips To More Business" on his blog Some Assembly Required. Communication, connecting, and closing. They're not just for people in sales. Singer's tips on telling a story, on creating meaningful relationships, on moving the conversation from "this is what I do" to "I'm excited to be working with you" will also resonate with those for whom selling is just a means to an end. Like lawyers (and everybody else). Don't leave your future to chance. Read the post. Think about how you get business, and how you might use this advice to get more. Then get out and do it.

Managing a network isn't all fun and games.

Sally Schmidt's "Creating a Game Plan for Your Contacts" in the ABA's May / June 2011 Law Practice Magazine. Don't let the title fool you. Managing a network of clients, referral sources and other influencers isn't a game, it's work. A lot of work. Serious work. Valuable work. Schmidt knows that, and has laid out a practical and comprehensive plan for making sure you don't miss out on opportunities because you aren't following up with the right people. Six steps that will help you go from a stack of business cards to an executed plan of action. Read it, and get to work.

Finding the islands of value in a sea of connections.

Valeria Maltoni's "You're Connected, Now What?" on her blog Conversation Agent. In today's world, where even those who claim not to use Twitter followers and Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections as metrics still do, it's easy to fall into the "more is better" trap. It isn't. More is simply more. But whether you've got five or five thousand connections, the real challenge is Step 2, identifying the valuable ones and taking them to the next level. Maltoni's post will show you how to put the "work" back into networking and perhaps even turn some of your connections into value, if you do it right.

Networking 101: read this post.

Michelle Villalobos's "Biggest Tip For Effective Networking?" on her eponymous blog, Michelle Villalobos. Villalobos shares a useful set of networking tips -- from entrepreneurs, coaches, marketers, headhunters and a whole lot more -- in this post. 56 tips in fact. Yes, there's some repetition ("give before you ask") and yes, there are a few clunkers ("increase traffic to your website"), but overall it's a solid list of advice from people who all appear to have a pretty significant stake in the game: making a living from effective networking. Like you. Read it. You'll learn something.

Earning your stripes at 3:00 am: fixing client problems is the best business development tool ever.

Betsy Munnell's "What Do Blogging and Vegas Have in Common?? ....Building a Niche Law Practice in the Digital Age" on her blog. Marketing and business development weren't always about blog posts and tweets and Facebook pages. Back in the day, a lawyer did her best networking when she was doing her best work. Munnell's post reminds us of that, even as she looks at digital tools as a way to enhance your reputation in today's world, where "personal interaction is at a premium." Are the good old days gone forever? Maybe. Or maybe you just have to do it differently, to build a reputation online so that you don't have to start building it from scratch at each and every in-person encounter offline. Either way, your reputation is just the starting point. You always have to earn your stripes the old-fashioned way: adding value. This post reminds us of that.

Talking to strangers just got a little easier.

Mary Ellen Sullivan's "Big Ideas for Small Talk" on the Attorney at Work blog. Let's face it: networking is tough. You have to identify the right events, the ones where potential clients and influencers hang out. You have to identify the right people, the ones who might give you work or an introduction or whatever else you might need. And then you have to talk: ask the right questions, listen to the answers, carry on interesting conversations. Sullivan's post will help with you that part. Sure, you'll still have to figure out the who, where, and why. But once you do, these icebreakers (and conversation killers) are bound to ease the pain of striking up a conversation.

Working the crowd. And doing it right.

Whitney Johnson's "Building a Network That Works Takes Work" on her blog at the Harvard Business Review. We've written about networking before, but this post reminds us that there's always more to learn. Networking done right, the way that builds meaningful relationships, the way that makes people want to get to know you better, the way that leads to doors opening and client engagements, doesn't just happen. It takes planning and effort and follow-up. It takes work. This post talks about the work you should be doing to build the network you want. Read it, and start doing it right.

Plan. Pitch. Think. Talk. Network. Repeat.

P.J. McGuire's "Don’t Let Networking Work You" on the Shy to Social Butterfly Blog. Networking isn't easy for everyone. But it can be easier. McGuire's steps for making the most of your networking activities are simple, practical, and best of all, easy to implement. There's no guarantee they will take you from shy to social butterfly, but they will certainly help you articulate what you do, engage with others, and build relationships with the people who can help you meet your objectives. What's so hard about that?

Smiles, handshakes and helping others.

James Clear's "24 networking tips that actually work" from the Passive Panda blog. Networking isn't just smiles and handshakes, says Clear. But we already knew that, like we knew that networking success doesn't just happen on its own, it requires planning and focus and effort. Then why read this post? Because it's full of practical tips on doing it right, on setting expectations, on building relationships, on making networking a habit, and on much more. And even if you don't agree with everything that Clear says, the happy baby picture in this post is hands down a great way to start your day.

Hello. My name is _________. How can you help me?

Thom Singer's "Ten Tips For Networking At A Multi-Day Conference" on his blog Some Assembly Required. Everybody goes to conferences. Everybody networks. And everybody can benefit from reading these practical tips on generating value from networking. Singer's post reminds us that effective networking takes organization, effort, and the ability to ask questions first and tell your own story later. Read it, and follow his advice.