11: Networking
This post is part of my Dailies collection. You can see more here
Earlier this week I was at a conference with my boss. We went to see if there were any software suppliers exhibiting that might have tooling that we could integrate in-house.
We were unsuccessful.
But a conversation with one guy that ended up with us getting a potential lead for an unrelated issue. We need to get someone into the business who is an expert in Microsoft Project but also has in depth understanding of the building industry. The guy we were chatting to gave me the number of someone who he said was "the best in the business".
I'm usually very reserved and don't like putting myself out there, but it was cool how everyone at these events were just keen to have a chat and were happy to help. That was my first foray into "networking" in a professional setting and it wasn't sleazy at all. It didn't even benefit him at all, he was just trying to help.
I watched this podcast a few weeks ago. It features Mike Taylor who was talking about how he was successful at going to these corporate events despite being an introvert. He says going to events is not about meeting clients directly, but about meeting people who know potential clients. And your job is to focus on being someone that others excited to recommend rather than selling your services directly.
These are approaches I will definitely be taking forward with me.
This post was last edited 3 months, 3 weeks ago.