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Transcript
The networking process doesn’t end when you stop the conversation in person, or of course like networking can happen via, for example, social media, so via Linkedin or Instagram. So whether you’re doing that online or offline, your networking process doesn’t really end when you stop the conversation or the one time conversation.
It’s up to us to cultivate our connections in a way that they can grow over time and they actually develop into proper opportunities. It’s really rare that in one conversation happening one time you’re gonna land the opportunity. A follow up or an after conversation catch-up is what it takes to actually reinforce or strengthened the sense of interest that you have already shown to the person you’ve talked to. And it’s a crucial part of your networking strategy.
My recommendation is to either you’re doing that online or offline, it’s always to make sure to have a contact of this person. So especially if you’re networking offline, ask for a business card or ask for connected on LinkedIn. And after the networking either event or situation is over, just send a message or send a quick email or engage with them on social media.
So give them a sign that you remember their face and what they do. You appreciate the conversation that you had if you did, of course. And try to follow up with, again, what you have talked about. So if you have talked about a potential project that this person is working on and this potential help that you could provide them, just follow up with them and be like “By the way I am here, I’m available to chat, over a coffee about a potential partnership or collaboration, so would you be free for having another call or another meeting. On that time, if you want, let me know I’ll be able to, or I’ll be available on that day”.
So really try to be proactive and don’t be shy. Don’t be uncomfortable with the fact that you’re actually asking to meet this person again, because networking is all about connections. You’re creating connections. You are coming up with your genuine interests, about what these people do and how you can actually become part of their network as well. So it’s totally okay. And it’s totally nice when you reach out to people, show appreciation and also show your proactive attitude and interest in staying connected.
This is not going to be the case with everybody. Some people might be more interested and see the opportunity to connect with you. Some other people might not, and this is totally okay. It shouldn’t discourage you to keep going on with your follow up emails with your followup messages. As I said before, we’re not supposed to connect with everybody. We’re not supposed to match with everybody.
The magic of networking is that sometimes good connections or networking opportunities happen in a way that we’re not really even sure about why and how. So this is also why you should always follow up. You should always send a quick message or try to feel your gut and be like, oh, I really connected with this person. I should actually follow up with them and send a message and reach out, or maybe pitch your solution, pitch your project, pitch a potential meeting that you can go together and look at things together and potentially like come up with something like at collaboration.
Actually the, um, full up message or the follow up phase is probably more important than the networking itself, because it creates continuity with what you did. If you go to networking events or you, or doing some networking, and this is where it ends, it was almost likeunuseful for you to just stay on that situation or on that circumstance. Make your networking events and situations as much fruitful as you can and the way you can do it is following up with them.
