Once you've determined who your target companies are, it's time to start working on how best to connect with those companies. We’ll focus first on networking into the target company using your network as well as online services like LinkedIn.
First, a word about networks. The average person knows about 250 people. So how do so many people (including me) have 500+ connections on LinkedIn? The answer is simple, there’s a difference between connections and a network! And, not all network relationships are created equal.
Learning your ABC’s
Randy Block, a career coach I work with on occasion, uses the ABC method with his clients. He has them divide their network into three groups.
- A’s are the people who are stakeholders in You, Inc. They’re the ones who will call you back or return an email within 24 hours. Marlene Dietrich once said, “It’s the friends you can call up at 4AM that matter.” While that might be pushing it, you get the idea.
- Then, you have the B’s. These are the people with whom you have a casual relationship. You may have been A’s at one time but you’ve lost touch or they are connected to a particular part of your life – a previous company, softball league, etc.
- The C’s are everybody else you know – more of a nodding acquaintance but still probably s
- tronger than your average LinkedIn connection. Why is this important? Each group requires a different approach.
Online Networks are a different kind of animal. While your LinkedIn connections may well include your ABC groups, if you are an “Open Networker,” you probably have a lot of connections that you don’t really know. The reason that many people are open networkers on systems like LinkedIn is that it increases your ability to “see” people. If you are a recruiter, for example, it can be an advantage to have a large number of connections so that you can view more profiles out to the third degree.
3-2-1 Contact!
Now that we understand the who’s who of our networks, let’s talk about approach. Before you make contact offline, do your homework online. Starting with LinkedIn, check to see if you can find contacts at your target companies that are related to any A contacts – this pre-supposes that you have already added your offline network to LinkedIn.
- Craft a tight email or phone script about your target list of companies and start with your “A” list. Do they have any contacts at the companies? It doesn’t matter what level or if the company is hiring. If your LinkedIn research revealed some contacts,mention them, but don’t assume there aren’t other contacts. In either case, how do they know the person? You are trying to determine if their contact is an A, B, or C in their network.
Recognize that a recommendation from one of your A contacts to one of their A’s will have a very high hit rate – close to 100% chance of moving the ball forward. An A to a B has about a 50% success rate. Remember, this is all about relationships.
If people from your A-list don’t have contacts at your targets, can they suggest any other companies that fit your parameters?
Who else should you be speaking with?
Remember this question, you will be using it frequently in different situations.
- The B’s will need a more casual approach. Typically, you won’t have been in touch for a while, and you need to start out with a social type exchange to refresh the relationship. There’s nothing worse than asking a favor of someone, then as an afterthought mentioning their spouse, only to find that they’ve been divorced for the last 3 years!
Your goal here is to re-establish contact, catch up, and then see if it makes sense to talk about your target companies. Try to turn those B’s back to A’s!
- Whether or not you connect with your C’s depends on how many A’s and B’s you have in your network. I recommend at least touching base with them. You may be surprised by the “strength of weak ties”. I remember a NETSHARE member who was able to connect with an officer at one of her target companies who happened to be the cousin of her dentist!
Let’s go back to LinkedIn to close this process out. When you were doing your homework for your target companies you may have found some people that were associated with target companies but not connected to an A or a B in your network. Should you try to start a conversation? Absolutely!
Just remember that you are asking for information about the target company – not do they know about any openings at the company.
Networking, especially in a proactive search, is about the exchange of information. It is not about asking for a job!
Don’t restrict your contacts to a certain level or discipline or even current employees. You want to gather information about the company that will help you determine fit. Not just cultural fit. Remember our marketing analogy? You’re the product and the company is the potential customer. Does the company have needs that turn your features into benefits?
In the next post, read about connecting without contacts.
© Copyright Kathy Simmons, 2012. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Proactive Job Search Expert Kathy Simmons is CEO of NETSHARE, the network for executives, where she sees her mission is to help NETSHARE members harness the Internet to advance their careers. Read Kathy's other musings on the NETSHARE Blog. Follow Kathy on Twitter @kathynetshare and connect with her on Linkedin linkedin.com/in/kathysimmons.
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