AEN – Always Engage in Networking
Monday, June 22nd, 2009I haven’t gotten through Keith Ferrazzi’s book, Never Eat Lunch Alone entirely but I love the message he sends out. I think what he outlines in his book is paramount. I find that I always want to reach out to folks and ping them just to check in and make sure they are ok. It’s funny with folks that don’t know me as well, I can hear the anxiety in their voice as I continue to talk but have yet to “pop the question” as to the reason I am calling. More often than not, I will let the person off the hook early into the call. I’ll start with, “You are probably wondering why I am calling you, well – I seriously don’t need anything but wanted to check in on you. Last time we spoke you had mentioned [insert that item here], how is that going?”
With the updates that hit me from Plaxo and Linkedin I literally can skim the updates and determine if a person’s been let go, or is about to get let go. This usually occurs when I see folks that are normally very quiet stir up a whirl wind of networking activities. This unfortunately is way too late and it always makes me feel sad when I see it. As salespeople, we have no excuse not to constantly network.
-CSG