When your career is marketing professional services, how do you use your networks to expand your business base and careers?
You must approach each person in your network not only in terms of whether they personally have contacts or information that can help you reach new clients, but whether they can introduce you to people who do. In my sales training programs I tell attendees they need a mentor. A mentor is someone who can help them navigate through a client's decision matrix and who is interested in seeing them succeed. If you have been selective in building your social networks, the people you have connected with will want to help you like a mentor.
Why else have you taken the time to build a social network, if there wasn't an expected business outcome? You have agreed to join others and help them. Why shouldn't there be a quid pro quo?
Also, look for friends or colleagues who are competitors, partners, vendors or clients of the firm you are interested in. This part of your client acquisition strategy not only allows you to learn more about the organization, but you also may be able to discover value-added information you can use to show your knowledge of the organization in a way your competitors can't.
When you work you network like this, a few hundred contacts can turn into thousands. You can imagine the impact that expanded reach will have on your ability to build business.
