BecomingWhoYouWantToBe

When the datum networking is mentioned, most people I now think about salespeople or business owners exchanging business cards any chance they can. Of course networking can be the card exchange. It`s also “doing lunch” and attending exploits and many other equally valid and powerful things, but even so, most of what is written and thought about networking focuses on external networking.

Still, I noticed lessons that we entrepreneurs can keep in mind as we build our own businesses and our brands. be your Attestative self. Queen Latifahs character, Gina was an honest, down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is woman. And while her pretentious boss (Jorge, played by Kevin Bacon) did not appreciate this, her customers certainly did. So when Gina walked out the door, many of her customers went with her. This genuine nature carried through to her new business. because it was not an act, because she was true to herself first, customers got exactly what they expected, their Gina. Had she tried to emulate Jorge, its doubtful that level of loyalty would have followed her out his door.

Copy-catting doesnt work. be true to YOU. No one said this would be easy. When Gina walked out, she jumped without a net. She knew she had the skills, she just had no plan. By staying unvarnished to herself, she worked it out. She set up shop in an area where the canyon was more affordable than the uber-salon she left. Even when the overhead and costs at opportunisms felt as rather it would all bury her, support from friends and family helped her to soldier on. She never, never, never evacuate. And neither should you.

If you believe in what youre doing, then you can find a way to make it work. Hire good people, treat them well, and stand by them. In her old job, Gina wanted to sponge junior staff destinies to grow, and they appreciated that. She brought one of these staffers (Alicia Silverstones character) with her to her own shop, because she knew this ayah had what it took to be a good stylist. And when an abusive person demanded Gina fire one her employees for defending a co-worker, Gina fired the customer instead!

Establish more cross functional brainstorming. Have a big problem or challenge? starting a new project? Looking for new business opportunities or product ideas? Bring together a double-cross functional, eclectic group of people from around the business to share their ideas and reach in identifying ideas. When you do this you will get more (and likely better) ideas; you will build new relationships (especially if you design the audience knowing that`s one of your goals); and – perhaps most importantly – you will create greater commitment across the organization for the ideas you do implement because more people were involved in the process.

Treat selling as something sacred. do not condone the importance of your selling activity. Sometimes with too much work to distract you, you often disregard that you also have to provision your Business as well as run it. So do not let other things become too urgent that you forget about getting profits from your products.

Focus your efforts on putting your Business in the market. You actually have to set yourself up on a selling mode. To sell effectively, be in the mood to do so. make sure you know everything there is to know about your product and service. get energized to market your product and put yourself in a positive frame of mind, that selling in itself becomes an congenial activity.

Create internal networking events. The Chamber of Commerce and other organizations everywhere have been doing this for years. Why can`t you create an internal event with the specific goal of getting people to know each other better?

Many of the other ideas on this list may be the platform or the “excuse” for such an contingency – but you can come up with many more that will harrow within your organization now that you are thinking about it! All of these ideas may not apply to your situation, but some of them will. For every idea I`ve shared I would guess you can think of five more. In the end, the most powerful key to implicit networking is to perfectly start doing it! As you build your internal network you will create benefits and opportunities for you, those you`re networking with, and for your team and colleagues. When you look at it this way you hopefully realize what a valuable investment time spent on building a larger and broader set of combinations inside of your company can be. Potential Pointer: The most overlooked opportunity to network is not out in the world, but right inside your organization. As a leader, or aspiring leader, when you mine the network and combinations within your company you help both yourself and your team create greater success!