I have heard the sentence “Do you have a connection in that company?”, “You need to know someone there”, “Who referred you?” an umpteenth time. This shows how important connections are in any space where you want to thrive.
Are we on the same page? Let me make it clearer, the word connection used here implies the people or network who you can leverage for one thing or the other that you need. Your network is your net worth — Tim Sanders
Over the years, I have seen and heard of a lot of conferences, workshops, and events, where “access to network” is included as a benefit, I bet you have!
I have been invited to some of those events, where you were told you will meet new people and I never did…wait a minute. It’s not exactly like I didn’t meet new people but I mean I didn’t make the connections I needed.
I remember an event I attended in the year 2019, I was so excited about it, for me I just wanted to have fun which I did. It was an evening hangout with people from my career space, we had different games to play, picture sessions, finger foods, drinks and karaoke. At a part during the event, the host of the event called for a time to network. I remember clearly that I met 6 people who I never followed up with.
I mean the networking session for me didn’t amount to much. Don’t get me wrong, this is not because those people I met were not great people but for one reason, I didn’t actually plan to network, so there was no clarity of who I wanted to meet or why I wanted to meet them.
The importance of strong targeted networks cannot be over emphasized, “You always need people”, everything you need for the next level is with people. It helps you achieve feats faster and it gives you a competitive edge sometimes. Making connections is not about exchanging cards, phone number or begging others for favors. Experts agree that the most connected people are the most successful.
3 things that will help you make the connection you need
I will like to share three things with you that has worked for me over and over again.
1. The Power of Clarity and Intentionality in connecting with People The lack of clarity could put the brakes on any journey to success — Steve Maraboli
If you have read any of my other medium posts, you will know that I preach intentionality a lot. Let’s see how intentionality and clarity plays out in making the connections you “need”. Yea! I had to put that in quote, you can also go back to look at the subject of this post, It says “How do I get the connections I need?”
Why should you focus your energy on making the connections that you don’t need? I count it as a waste of your time and their time.
At one point or the other in life, you will be in need of different people: a referee, sponsor, mentor, coach, friend, business partner… the list is endless. In making connections with people, you have to be clear on two things:
What you need?
Who you need?
For example, a person wants to write a book aimed at easing the academic tension of students, in my opinion
What he needs is to get his book to a large targeted audience
Who he needs is an academic influencer
Clarity helps you to be strategic in making connections and getting predefined results. Until you have clarity, intentionality cannot do its magic. Once you are clear on what you need and who you need, then you can be intentional on building strategies to meet them. You have to go to places where they can be found, some of them may be on social media, at conferences, workshops, meetups etc. The key thing is to know where you can meet them and then reach out to them.
You don’t have to go for all the events happening around, all you need is to map out the events that are relevant to you — where you can meet the people that you need.
Earlier this year, I knew I wanted to do better with my personal finance and I needed a finance coach. I started looking out to listen to some finance coaches, I was in sync with one of them so I reached out to her on Instagram. I think I have to mention that when you are reaching out to people, don’t just say “Hi”, or “Hello” be clear on the reason you are reaching out to them upfront, some of them have too many people reaching out to them and to avoid being ignored, be clear on what you want when you reach out to them.
I reached out to her on Instagram and she agreed to help me get better with my personal finance, I will tell you the full story in my next point, but please be clear and intentional about the connections you make. I will like you to ask yourself these questions and answer it on your notepad
What do I need?
Who do I need?
Where can I meet who I need?
2. The Power of Value Exchange How do you mean Precious? I will explain.
Everyone is looking for value, and this includes you reading this. I have recognized that most people appear as needy, asking for favors without proposing to exchange a favor.
I will tell you this for free, most highly placed people have lots of people reaching out to them from time to time for one form of favor or the other, what these people forget is that no matter how highly people are placed there is still something they need that they can offer.
The power of value exchange is so key in making and sustaining connections. When you have settled with the first point above which is about being clear and intentional, then you ask yourself based on the research I have conducted about the person I need, “What value can I add to them?”
I will like to continue the story I started in the first point I shared with you. In the process of reaching my finance coach, I mentioned three things to her:
What I needed.
Why I chose her.
What I can give to her in return.
I’m sure you are thinking I gave her money, no I didn’t, even if I wanted to at that time, I didn’t have the money to pay her. In the process of doing my background research about her, I saw that she churns out lots of creatives on her Instagram page, so I proposed to her that I had a little hang of graphics design and I could help her design some creatives. As expected, she responded to me the next day and now I can boast of having a connection with her, she is adding value to me and I also have an opportunity to add value to her.
The value chain has to be kept alive, you have to keep it alive, it gets you the connection and it also sustains it.
The next time you are looking to connect with someone, please do not appear needy — talk to them like they are also going to benefit from your connection with them because they will.
I need you to sit down and do three things:
Conduct a research on the person you need at the moment.
Find what is valuable to them.
Look out for how best you can add value to them based on your area of strength.
3. The Power of personal branding This is the last thing I will be sharing with you. I know you have heard and read a lot about personal branding. Personal branding here means how you present yourself to people and create a perception in their minds about you. Intentionality also plays out in personal branding, ask yourself how you want to be perceived, then dress the part, talk the part and look the part.
How you present yourself, is how people first view you. What are you showcasing? — Mama Zara
Have you ever seen someone step into a room looking very stunning — I mean a man in a brown tuxedo and a black shinning Paul Smith brogues and he then says Good morning, what comes to your mind? I will leave you to answer that…
Some people trivialize the power of personal branding and I won’t want you to do that, because it has a great impact on what people give to you, who approaches you, how they pay for your service, and talk about you. In your personal branding you may want to take a careful look at how you speak, how you put your social media pages together, how you present thoughts and your etiquette.
If you need to learn something new about how to behave when you are in a social gathering, please do, if you need to learn to speak more articulately, please do, in whatever way you need to be perceived exactly the way you wish please present yourself in that manner.
As a young Agile Consultant, when I facilitate training and workshops, I want to be perceived as being a bit more older, so I ensure I dress the part, I always have my glasses on. I remember a day one of the employees at a particular organization where I trained saw me without my glasses, he was like you really look different, and I smiled because that was part of the plan.
I need you to ask yourself and write it down: How do I want to be perceived?
I mean what three things you want to come to the minds of people when they see you. Do you want them to come across you as an investor, influencer, Growth driver, Leader etc.? Be clear on how you want people to perceive you.
What can I do to be perceived this way?
I mean the effort you need to put it together, do you have to learn dining etiquette, do you need someone to help you with your choice of clothes, whatever works for you, go for it.
The recipe of clarity, intentionality, value exchange and personal branding will get you the connections you need in life easily. I believe this post helped you to make some actionable plans, because that is the major goal.
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