Have you creatively expanded your personal network from 12 to 23 lately? Not sure how? Here’s a list of top contacts that might trigger the names of some living humanoids you haven’t connected with in a long, long time.
First, your “provider list.” People you pay daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. If you still use a checkbook, ask who benefits from the dollars you send regularly. What is that, not sure? Are you like one of my clients who hadn’t heard from their car insurance agent manager for 25 years? Whoops! Do some old-fashioned phone “fast networking” (no texting, no social media, no emails) with EVERY provider you send payments to.
Do it today, now, this minute, and let them know clearly how they can help you. “How’s business?” you ask. Recommend the business to her. To be prepared. She might ask how you are! “Noretta, I’m not asking you for a job and I’m not asking you to find me a job. That’s not what you do. You have one of the best networks on the planet. Do you want to help me? Please give me the names of two, living clients and alive that you feel comfortable with if I call them by name and tell you exactly what I just told you.” Use your soft skills here.
Recently, a new, non-sales-oriented client with five years of experience in his first job after college asked me for help when he lost his job. Using the above approach (he wrote down the words and practiced saying them) he experienced his first “no” after 49 successes.
He was startled by the downward spin, but not angry. He knew it wasn’t about him. She didn’t know him. He didn’t want her to forget him. He sent a handwritten thank you note that didn’t begin with the words “thank you,” expressing her appreciation for simply taking her call and her candor in wasting neither her nor his time. her, which probably made her angry. Shiny.
Now fill in the blanks for your primary contacts: auto, home, life, and liability insurance executives; plumbers, electricians, gardeners, door-to-door salespeople, contractors, doctors, opticians, restaurant/prop owners, cabinetmakers, former managers; Training co-workers, even if they are also in the job market; Customers; consultants; teachers; Professional Association contacts; Fellow Students/Former Classmates; neighbours; Friends; Lawyer/Banker/CPA/Stockbroker and Real Estate people. As promised, more than 17.
Ghost? It’s someone you don’t know or just met, who you think can be trusted. Believe it or doubt it, strangers have proven time and time again that they are one of the fastest and most helpful resources.
