One of the greatest professional assets is who you know and who knows you. According to a study of over 600 MBA grads, with 56 % earning over $100,000, "Fifty-eight percent of respondents believe a person skilled at networking could see a “significant, substantial or dramatic” impact on income — even up to a 100-percent increase."
That means "soft work" like networking can have a pretty substantial ROI.
Also, the source of the study, UpMo, pointed out that despite popular opinion, having a "wide net" of contacts can offer more value than only focusing on a few, deep connections.
This is really good advice, but for someone trying to maintain a
sane schedule (www.schedulemakeover.com), it can seem very overwhelming to try to keep it touch
with hundreds or thousands of people.
I've seen the power of networking in my own career and have
developed these "triage" strategies for efficient, yet personal
communication:
Top Tier:
- Weekly Conference Calls--Every Monday at 10:45 a.m. CT, I touch base with two other young entrepreneurs--Lauren Berger and Morgan First. They keep me motivated and inspired and moving ahead on business development.
Mid Tier:
- Monthly Mentor Calls--I check in with Tonya Ramsey, a
business and personal mentor who listens to me talk through my thoughts
and shares her wisdom. (Time: 1 hour Memory Cue: Next call scheduled through e-mail immediately following completion of a call.)
- Monthly Coach Calls--I check in with Mitch Matthews, a business coach with A Kick in the Pants who helped me launch Real Life E® and now does "monthly maintenance" calls (Time: 30 minutes Memory Cue: Next call scheduled before the end of the call.)
- Monthly Key Contact E-Mail--I send out an e-mail to a few
business professionals who have offered me solid advice and asked me to
keep in touch about my progress, like Lindsey Pollak. (Time: 15-30 minutes to complete Memory Cue: On monthly repeat in my Palm Z22.)
Bottom Tier (very important, but not very close contacts):
- Mass Update E-Mail--Two to three times a year, I send a
"here's what's happening in Elizabeth's world e-mail" out to people in
my address book who might be interested. In college, I sent these out
to let people know when I had a new internship or when I was laid-off
and looking for a new job. I find that even reaching out to people once
every six months keeps them feeling connected to you and invested in
your career. (Time: Because of my number of contacts, this can take about 4 hours Memory Cue: Typically
send out anniversary updates for Grace Communications Inc. in October,
Real Life E® in January, and sometimes send out a summer update (if
there's something super fabulous going on ;o)
In addition to using these strategies, I also do some networking on social media like:
These tools and using more formal communications like newsletters through iContact can
definitely help you keep in touch with professional contacts. But I've
found that my "triage" approach has really brought excellent quality
results in both the corporate and entrepreneurial world.
Later this week, I'll post my most recent update so you can get a feel for the kind of message I send out.
To maintaining a brilliant network without burning out!
Elizabeth
If you want to end your feelings of overwhelm and guilt and step into the future with confidence and enthusiasm, contact Elizabeth today. Why suffer from burn-out, overwhelm, and guilt, when you could get a ScheduleMakeover.com?
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach who empowers women business owners to achieve work/life brilliance.TM Inc magazine, NBC, and The Chicago Tribune are just a few of the places where Elizabeth has appeared, and she’s happy to be interviewed for your publication or broadcast.
Posted
Feb 15 2009, 12:28 AM
by
RealLifeE