What are your best tips for networking?
Hey everyone. I'm new to the site. I am a huge nerd over people skills and networking/sales stuff. What are your tops 3 tips for networking?
Hey everyone. I'm new to the site. I am a huge nerd over people skills and networking/sales stuff. What are your tops 3 tips for networking?
There's a great guide on Stripe Atlas: https://stripe.com/atlas/guides/networking
I will check this out forsure. Thanks for taking the time to send it!
As a developer who earlier worked with technical sales and done a lot of sales through networking. Networking is just one tiny area to begin sales, but an important one. Something to start:
-Talk will people and learn what they are doing, you are trying to make friends
-Don't think sale, sale, sale
-People that seem not relevant is often the ones who will give you the best introductions. Every person often know +1000 people they could introduce you to if they think it is a good match.
-Give examples of what projects you HAVE done. People will generalize and ask questions, don't try do sell. If you miss on one feature in their field by trying to sell, you are often out. (He does not know my business).
-Go to the same event (preferably weekly event) over and over. You get to know others who also come frequently and they will be the connectors for you. Just like: Hey, you should talk to Greg! I did see him here 20min ago, I will do an introduction for you.
Thank you punnerud! I appreciate the time to took to comment. I like what you said about everyone knows lots of people. I've never thought about It that way. What is your main focus right now in developing?
I just have fun at work and cash in +$185k as a consultant, working 8 to 16. Kidding aside, though its true.
My job description is "Efficiency improvements and complex problem solving". The project is rolling out smart meters in Norway.
I am also involved in several governmental reports, helping the economists with all the technical questions so the politicians can do a good job. I am also involved in several innovation projects on machine learning in a tight link between the energy companies, universities and founded by the government.
(Can use a lot of SQL and Python :D)
Before this I was the head of innovation at a +1000 people IT-company and technical project manager for the largest medical record system in Norway on one of the new hospitals.
Try to still be involved in the innovation community in Oslo. Earlier I worked in a startup-company doing indoor navigation, just like Google Maps within builds.
Did you know that Cisco can triangulate your phone within 5-10m in radius and 99% match on the floor, without your need to install or do anything on your phone ;) Just connect to their WCS/NCS and you get all of the Airport/University/Hospital covered :)
To sum up. My focus within development is probably to generate value. If there is no programming involved, that is fine. Still I often find myself programming 1-4hours a day.
What are your goal(s) these days? (Linked to the need for networking/sales)
Sounds like a super interesting career! And I am fascinated by the problem solving part of it all. What is such a major skill to have in business/life.
How did you get started in that direction? (School etc?)
I am currently growing a SAAS business called Upscribe. My main focus is connecting with customers and making connections for co-marketing efforts and sales. I also and starting my second podcast and hope to hit 100 episodes for this year.
I also just nerd out over people skills and networking.
Assuming you mean in-person stuff:
Most networking is awkward because it either falls straight into "sales pitch" mode (I pitch you, then you pitch me, then we both ignore each other cuz nobody wants to get pitched) or "awkward silence" mode.
The solution to this is to have prepared 3-5 important, non-trivial things or areas you want to learn more about from the people in that industry/field/segment. Then when you bump into one, you can say, "Hey, weird question, but I've been wondering a lot about X recently. How do you guys handle it?"
This is a triple-whammy because it's non-salesy, non-awkward (in fact it actually leads to interesting conversations), and also has the extra bonus of providing useful insight for whatever product or business you're building.
I started using this approach as a custdev hack, but I found that it led to better conversations all around, so now it's just a little bit of preparation that makes networking far easier and more successful.
Awesome I wrote that down and going to work on that forsure! Thanks for the wisdom
Quality over quantity. Don't mass message a bunch of people. Instead, try to find one thing in common with one person. You can find this in their tweets, Facebook page, or Instagram. Strike up a conversation with them. Get to know them. See what other goals and interests you have in common. Once you've done this with one person, move to the next.
"Do Things That Don't Scale" - Paul Graham
This is great actionable advice! I will forsure focus on this concept. What is your favorite platform to connect with people on?
Glad to hear! I'm a big fan of Facebook. You can search Facebook groups related to your interests. Then once you join them, everyone's basically already into the same things you are =)
Brillient! I've used twitter in the past for getting guests on my podcast but I haven't tried this yet.