I had expected a sales pitch when I did show up (and I had a response ready that would have shut it down immediately), but I didn’t expect the meeting to be on this contact’s turf entirely. That, my friends, is lousy networking. Hell, it’s not networking at all. It’s a power move. It’s also off-putting, which is why we won’t be meeting.<\/p>\n

Would you accept a “networking” situation like that? Probably not. So why do you sell to your contacts the moment you get in touch?<\/p>\n

It could be that this contact had pure intentions. However, I’ll never know because the conversation left a bad taste. Maybe the contact is just lousy at email conversation or maybe this person really is that busy. Too bad for the contact — the approach, however well-intentioned, caused me to back off.<\/p>\n

Too many people simply don’t understand effective networking. Here’s a better way to build a strong network:<\/p>\n

Meet on neutral ground.<\/strong> In most cases, your networking is going to happen either online, in email, or in person at an event or function. It won’t — shouldn’t — happen in someone’s office with one person looking across a desk at you. Neutral ground puts you both on even footing. Meeting on another person’s turf, even if there’s no desk between you, shifts power subtly, yet clearly. Don’t agree to it, and don’t expect it of others.<\/p>\n

Go to listen.<\/strong> It’s a huge mistake to show up at any networking situation (online included) with the goal of making people notice you for who you are and what you do. Instead, ask questions and listen to the answers. Ask follow-up questions. Get used to speaking less.<\/p>\n

Engage in conversation.<\/strong> Leave the sales pitch at home. Seriously. No one wants to be trapped in a conversation that’s clearly one-sided. You’re not there to sell. You’re there to get to know someone. Let the conversation take its own shape — don’t try to steer it toward any rehearsed or preconceived direction.<\/p>\n

Have your elevator pitch ready.\u00a0<\/strong>And please, keep it brief. Usually, I’ll let people tell me about themselves and their businesses before I open my mouth. If they don’t ask, I don’t offer. But if they do, I use a little summary that\u00a0goes something like this: “Well, I’m a writer who specializes in your industry, and I’ve handled projects for a number of companies, including quite a few in this room. I write articles, but I handle a lot of marketing and communications pieces, too.” That’s it. I’ve worded it so they’ll ask follow-up questions if they’re interested, such as “What kind of marketing pieces?” or “Do you write for the web, too?” Occasionally, I’ll add a little about how long I’ve been specializing, or what magazines they can find my work in.<\/p>\n

Have no expectations.<\/strong> Sure, there’s a chance someone will hire you on the spot, but that shouldn’t be your reason for networking. Stop thinking about your own agenda and start building relationships. Over time, the relationships will last much, much longer.<\/p>\n

Follow up.<\/strong> Even in the follow up, you’re not selling. You’re thanking them for their time, and possibly repeating back a bit of the conversation to refresh their memories. Networking is all about nurturing the relationship. If you start selling, you lose them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Writers, how has the networking attempts of others impacted you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What’s the best\/worst you’ve seen?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

How do you approach networking opportunities? What works best for you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m listening to: Heathens by twenty one pilots It’s been a relatively slow week. I’m dealing with three projects at the moment, but there’s time between interviews and calls to get some much-needed admin work out of the way. There was also time\u00a0on my agenda to schedule a meetup with a contact who wanted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[412],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-5280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking","tag-networking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5280"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5298,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions\/5298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}