Networking and manners

Last week I met with a woman who facilitates cultural change within large enterprises. The discussion was around business development for sole practitioners, plus a 

She had realised that her client base was starting to thin out a little while she was distracted working on a large project for 12 months, and consequently needed to give things a push along.

Since her offering is what I would call “soft” she needed to get some new relationships happening (as compared to spending her bucks on SEO for her website).

Because of this, I decided to connect her up with another woman I had been dealing with recently who worked in a similar field. My thinking was that there were some potential synergies and I was amused by the fact that they both had men’s names so there was a potential surprise for both of them.

My email went like this:

Hi X and Y,

1. I like both of you, and I’m working with both of you.
2. You are both sole practitioners operating in similar areas.
3. I think you should meet / have coffee / see if there are any synergies.

X is in Inner West, Y is in Inner East. Ball is in your court.

X’s contact details

Y’s contact details

Cheers,
Brendan

I do this kind of connecting at least once a week, as I am a big believer in paying it forward. Sometimes I even do it on demand, but only if asked nicely, as per this great HBR article.

An interesting side effect of me doing this connecting is I get an almost instant insight into the character of people. From some people I get an immediate thank you, a note that lets me know whether contact is being made and another downstream to let me know if there is any outcome from the connection.

From others I get silence, then usually an email two months later asking for the contact details again. So guess who I feel obliged to help out and will connect up again?

Just a reminder that in a time of social media and personal brand, manners matter. And it’s difficult to measure opportunities lost, when you never knew they existed.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.

To read more Brendan Lewis blogs, click here.