Okay, enough about social media (at least for right now). Time to talk about ::gasp:: humans. Specifically, one of the most important business skills: networking. For some, networking is just as gasp-worthy…
Whatever your level of comfort on the matter, it’s as crucial as mastering marketing tactics. After all, “your network is your net worth”—a catchy way today’s Read says invest in your relationships.
Coming to you from Convince & Convert, the author shares lessons he learned from talking with networking king, Paul Teshima. Paul is currently the CEO and co-founder of Nudge.ai, an AI-powered networking platform that literally “nudges” you when there’s a sales opportunity you might be overlooking. Not only does it show you the number of connections, but the strength of your relationships, as well. An AI networking platform? Now we’ve seen everything.
But wait there’s more—Paul is also the co-founder of Eloqua, which was purchased for more than 200% of its estimated public market value by Oracle in 2012. Why the heck would Oracle hook it up like that? Because Paul is a marketing, selling, and networking boss.
Below are the 5 lessons, but ya gotta give this one a read for the full scoop on these valuable takeaways.
- Meet with people outside your immediate sphere of influence, and be comfortable forming those weak ties.
- Networking isn’t about selling a specific product or service.
- You have to be able to offer something of value and expect nothing in return.
- You need to form a connection through personalization, just like with marketing.
- You should always be developing your network, even if you happen to be at a job you don’t like or care about.