The quickest way to make connections

Eight things you can do to make connections and build relationships that will both grow your business and advance your career.

What’s the fastest, easiest, most effective way to make the kind of people connections that will advance your career? Make a connection for someone else. It’s true. Instead of always networking to build your own business and career – start looking for opportunities to make connections for others. You’ll soon become known as a people connector, and you’ll be amazed to see how quickly others will start looking for ways to make great connections for you. Here are a few ideas to help get you started:

1. Plan to make at least one introduction at the next event you attend – Next time you’re at an industry event, make a point of introducing at least one person to someone else at the event. It costs you nothing and only takes a few minutes. But it’s a win/win for everyone.
2. Take a leadership role in an industry group or association – everyone knows it makes sense to join industry organizations, but most people stop there. Don’t just attend an occasional function. Get on a committee and run for an office. It doesn’t take as much time as you think, and it gives you the opportunity to meet and connect with far more people. It’s a great way to bring your firm a huge amount of visibility without spending a dime on advertising or PR.
3. Sponsor a charity event in your community – We’ve done this for several years now with our annual Agile On The Green charity event. It’s a great way to bring people together, make more introductions, and spend quality time meeting outside of a work environment.
4. Host a networking meeting for your customers, vendors, or other strategic partners – One of the great things about networking meetings is that everyone there knows that everyone else is there to meet people. It makes going up and introducing yourself an easy, comfortable thing to do because everyone’s doing it.
5. Recognize and reward non-employees who have brought you business – Sure, you know that rewarding your employees helps to motivate and inspire them, but have you thought about doing the same for people who aren’t on your payroll? Everyone, employee or not, responds to recognition and rewards. So next time a non-employee brings you business, find a tangible way to thank them. A handwritten note is great, but why not slip in a gift card to a nice restaurant, too? At Aglle, we hold an annual awards dinner to say thanks to the many people who have opened doors for us during the past year.
6. Recommend a client or partner on LinkedIn – People really appreciate getting a solid LinkedIn recommendation. It’s up there for everyone else to see, helps build their profile, and can really help next time they’re job hunting. The benefit for you? Writing recommendations shows people you appreciate their work. It also puts you front of mind.
7. Be an evangelist for your clients and other contacts – If you’re constantly talking about and promoting the people you work with, you’ll be in a much better position to bring them valuable connections and business. Because they know you know so many people, you can become one of their “go to” people when they’re searching for a particular service or product.
8. Create training events for your network of contacts – Training events – like charity and networking events – are a great way to get people in your circle together to meet each other. You’ll also be helping to build your contacts’ professional skills – something that’s always appreciated. Tell everyone to bring a friend and you’ll expand your network even more.

So, go ahead and make some new introductions. Don’t worry about whether the connection means a direct benefit for you or your company. Just keep making those introductions, referrals, and connections. You’ll soon see more people making connections for you.