Networking Tip: associate with the right people in every category of your life

Last year I wrote about Denis Waitley’s quote that we are a direct reflection of the 5 people we associate with the most.

Let me elaborate a little bit more on this in this post.

I already gave the tip to think about your goals first.

It’s a good idea to think about several aspects of your life.

One of the ways to look at it is following the 7 categories from Carl Van de Velde (from his book “10 stappen naar succes en geluk”):
- Money and Career
- Family and relationships
- Health
- Enjoying and fun
- Material things
- Personal Development
- Contribution to society

Now think about who you could associate with in every category. Someone who can bring you much fun and joy, might not be the right person to associate with when it comes to money and career.

An important remark I want to make is that you don’t necessarily have to meet these people in person. Of course it helps a lot when you are able to spend time with them, but don’t let that hold you back.

For example:

- If you want to take your health to the next level, who do you think are healthy people? Who in your current environment? But also: who is a role model? Maybe it is Jane Fonda. Then buy a DVD from her. In this way you also associate with her.

- If you want to work on personal development, think about a person who inspires you. Maybe it is Anthony Robbins. Then buy a CD from him and listen to it in your car. And listen to it again. This is also a way of associating with someone.

But maybe you don’t know where to start or you can’t think of any role models.

Then tap into the power of your network !

Share your goal and ask them who they think of, who they can recommend and maybe even connect you with.

To your success !

Jan

6 Ways How LinkedIn Groups Can Benefit Event Organizers, Meeting Planners and Association Managers

Many (professional) organisations have a hard time to keep their organisation interesting enough for their members and are also continuously looking to attract new members.

Starting your own LinkedIn Group can both add to the value of the membership and attract more members in many ways:

1. An online presence next to events will help members to keep in touch between meetings.

2. Members who can’t attend many meetings will still be able to contact each other.

3. The LinkedIn Group is an extra platform to help each other and to discuss trends.

4. Some potential members might have never heard of your organisation. They can get in touch with you and become a member of your organisation after finding the LinkedIn Group.

5. It is a good and free alternative to a forum on your own website. Many organisations have a hard time building a successful community because they don’t have a critical mass of people who participate in discussions. As a result people won’t visit the forum anymore, the negative spiral continues and they also hardly ever visit the website anymore. Since people use LinkedIn also to connect with other people and to build their network with other people than the members of your organisation they keep using LinkedIn and once in a while visit the LinkedIn Group.

6. Free membership of the LinkedIn Group might generate interest in a (paid) membership for events.

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

LinkedIn Secret: Everybody in the Chain Can Read Every Message of an Introduction.

Time for another “LinkedIn Secret”: Everybody in the chain can read every message of an introduction.

When you send an introduction request to someone via “Get introduced through a connection”, you always have to write two messages: one for the final recipient and one for your first degree contact.

Be aware that everybody who is “in the chain” can read all messages. In practice this means that your first degree contact can read your message to him and the final recipient, that the second degree contact can read your two messages and the message from your first degree contact to him and that the final recipient can read your two messages, the message from your first degree contact to your second degree contact and from the second degree contact to him.

So always be professional in the messages you send whether it is an introduction request from yourself or whether you forward a message from someone else.

I think it was Warren Buffet who said, “It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but only a few seconds to destroy it.”

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

How to Switch from Business to Personal in a Conversation at a Networking Event?

When you go to professional networking events like receptions, mixers, conferences, fairs and seminars, it is “etiquette” to talk about the professional parts of our lives first.

However people make better, more interesting and more lasting connections when they talk about more personal topics like hobbies, interests, family, schools (of themselves and of their children). When we have found this mutual interest, interesting things happen: the atmosphere changes, we feel more relaxed and many times we become more ourselves. (Note: I see so many people acting like someone they are not at networking events; it is pity because they get frustrated with that and it doesn’t bring any results either: people feel it on a subconscious level and push them (mentally) away instead of getting more interested in them)

The question now is: how do I go from professional and business to personal in a conversation?

What Jan De Boeck, one of the trainers at Networking Coach, has found is that the magical words are: “Where is your company situated?” or “Where do you come from?”

When people answer this question, it is easy to tie in some more personal questions and comments like “I have a cousin who plays tennis there” (of course only when this is true), “Have you been living there for a long time?”, “Is there anything interesting to see or visit there?”, “Are there any good restaurants over there?” and many others.

So after listening to each other’s Sticky Stories so you will be remembered professionally, switch to the personal side and make sure you will be remembered as a whole person to make life lasting connections!

Have a great networking week !

Jan

Jan Vermeiren is the author of the networking book “Let’s Connect!” and the audio CD “Let’s Connect at an event” (or in Dutch: “Let’s Connect op een evenement“) which contains 30 tips to listen to in your car when going to or coming back from a network event so you will not only feel comfortable, but also get results!

Fundamental Principle of Networking 5: Your Know, Like And Trust Factor

Networking and referral expert Bob Burg is famous for his quote (from the excellent book “Endless Referrals”): “All things being equal, people do business with, and refer business to people they know, like and trust.”

So in order to build relationships it is important to raise your Know factor, your Like factor and your Trust factor with the people from your network.
What does this mean in practice?

- Know factor: what do people know about you? What is your background? What are your interests on a professional and personal level? Which organizations do you belong to? To raise your Know factor it is important to fill in your Profile on LinkedIn as much as you can.

- Like factor: people like other people who are helpful, kind and not pushy. Applying the networking attitude, thinking about what you can share with other people and answering questions in Discussions and Answers already helps a lot to raise your Like factor.

- Trust factor: there are two kinds of trust:

1. Trust that you are an expert. This part of the trust factor can be raised when answering questions in Answers and Discussions in your field of expertise. By giving good and solid answers you will be perceived as the expert. Also by having recommendations from other people describing your professional expertise your Trust factor will increase.

2. Trust that you will behave in a decent way when you get an introduction or referral. This is a consequence of your behavior described in the Like factor. Having recommendations from other people describing your attitude when working with them will also raise this part of the Trust factor.

LinkedIn helps to raise your Know, Like and Trust factor in many ways. As Stephen M.R. Covey wrote in his book, “The Speed of Trust”: trust can also be transferred from one person to another. Therefore, it is good to ask for introductions and to pass on messages when you trust people; this is one of the best and easiest networking actions to take. It also works the other way around: trust (and your reputation) can be damaged very quickly. So don’t only be a good advocate, but also a good filter!

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

Hoe LinkedIn Gebruiken om Nieuwe Klanten te Vinden (MindMap)

Apologies for the English readers of this blog, exceptionally this post is in Dutch.

Ben je zelf op zoek naar nieuwe klanten of prospecten of wil iemand uit je omgeving meer verkopen, dan is deze Mindmap “Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken om nieuwe klanten te vinden” een handige tool.

Succes !

Jan

Auteur van de netwerk boeken Let’s Connect en Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken (van beide is er een gratis light versie beschikbaar)

Mooi voorbeeld van een netwerk concept: De Beursvloer

Sorry for the English readers of the blog, this one is in Dutch.

Deze week kreeg ik een email van Joris Nees. Hij had vroeger een open “Proactive Networker” training gevolgd en vroeg me of ik al van De Beursvloer had gehoord.

Dat was niet het geval en aangezien ik altijd interesse heb in verschillende vormen van hoe de kracht van een netwerk wordt ervaren, ben ik direct op de website gaan kijken. Het is een heel leuk concept. Niet meteen supervernieuwend van werkvorm, maar het idee om verenigingen en bedrijven bij elkaar te brengen om zo win-win situaties te creëren is schitterend.

Dit is een stukje tekst dat ik van Joris kreeg wat het hopelijk wat duidelijker maakt:

Een concrete deal met een win-wingevoel, daar gaat het om bij de Beursvloer. Op dinsdag 15 december gaat de tweede editie door in de Lessius hogeschool in Antwerpen, en komen verenigingen en ondernemingen terug samen om de handen laten schudden boven een winwinovereenkomst.

De Beursvloer is een evenement waar verenigingen en bedrijven elkaar twee uur lang ontmoeten en ‘matches’ maken tussen de vraag van de enen en het aanbod van de anderen.
Wat de Beursvloer origineel maakt, is het wederzijdse karaktervan de matches. Aan de verenigingen wordt gevraagd om een tegenprestatie te leveren voor de diensten aangeboden door de bedrijven.
Alle partners ondersteunen de beurs ook omdat ze in duurzaam ondernemen geloven, ondernemerschap dat oog heeft voor omgeving, mens en milieu. Een Beursvloer is goed voor de lokale samenleving door partijen uit verschillende sectoren bij elkaar te brengen.
Met concrete matches. Met als resultaat: winst voor de samenleving.

Aangezien ik helemaal voor dit initiatief gewonnen ben omdat het toont wat de kracht van een netwerk is en omdat het niet gaat om sponsoring (wat vaak eenzijdig is), maar echte win-wins (lees de cases maar eens op de website), raad ik iedereen aan om op 15 december naar de Beursvloer te gaan.

Have a great networking day!

Jan

LinkedIn Myth: Why Should I Use LinkedIn When I Have Google?

Time for busting another LinkedIn myth: why should I use LinkedIn when I have Google (or other search engines)

My answer to this one is very short:

Google is an excellent resource to find information. So use it when you look for information.

LinkedIn is a collection of people and the relationships between them. Use LinkedIn when you are looking for a person. You won’t only find out more about this person (what you also might have been able to do with Google), but you also will discover who can help you get in touch with them.

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

12 Ways How LinkedIn Helps to Find Experts Outside And Inside Your Own Organization

If you are working on a project and you need information, knowledge or any other form of expertise outside or inside your own organisation, these are the benefits LinkedIn can bring you:

1. Getting answers to your questions (via Answers or Discussions)

2. Identifying the experts (finding their profile via a search or via the Expert rating)

3. Receiving introductions or referrals to experts (via the introductions tool or outside LinkedIn)

4. Discovering the relationships between experts and other contacts (see the connections in their profiles)

5. Discovering the relationships between your colleagues from the same and other departments and experts (see the connections in their profiles)

6. Discovering information about experts which makes the conversations online and offline easier (reading their profile)

7. Maintaining relationship with experts (Personal contacts, Discussions in Groups and answering questions in Answers)

8. Visibility for you and your organisation which might attract the experts and Personal Branding (your profile not only on LinkedIn, but also in the Search Engines like Google, contributions in Answers and in Discussions)

9. Make yourself be perceived as an expert as well (contributions in Answers and in Discussions and Expert points)

10. Finding the right groups and organisations where the experts gather to be member of yourself, both online and offline (via the profiles of people from your network)

11. Picking up trends in the marketplace (Discussions in the groups of the experts)

12. Getting notifications when someone changes jobs, this is a trigger to contact them to see if they became an expert and if they leave the organisation to get introduced to the one who will replace them (network updates)

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

Networking Expert Martijn Aslander about the new networked world

No interview with a fellow networking expert this time (but watch this blog in the future for an interview with him), but a link to a very interesting speech of Martijn Aslander.

Martijn lives a very extraordinary life completely built on the idea of a network that helps and reinforces itself.

Watch and listen to these thought provoking ideas and the explanation of how Martijn makes his money: http://vimeo.com/6858692 (in English; 50 minutes but worth the time)

Have a great networking week !

Jan