Career Insight: Effective Corporate Networking - A Must Do
Tarif Mohammed Khan
One of my former chiefs who is also a mentor often says, Networking is working, and working is networking. She explains it in such a way that you need to develop your network through working and that network is your major asset for sustainable growth at work. At present, the most effective strength of a corporate person is networking. Without a strong network, you cannot perform as a solution maker at your organization. You may good at performing according to your job description, but unexpected situation comes in hand which has no solution and that is the moment you need support of your strong network to solve it. You never know, when that single cell phone number or email address plays a job saving role for you! So, it is always better to create a diversify network as well as maintain it properly for effective facilitation when needed. Few key points are really applicable to do so.
Exchange business card and contact number: The moment you meet a new person at corporate get-together or and business dealings, after standard greetings generally you exchange your business card. That is really important to collect. When you are exchanging business card make sure you look to the name and designation of the person twice before you put the card inside your wallet or card holder. That will help you to remember her/his name and position to behave with proper etiquette. Dont just exchange the card and put it inside; it is bad manners. Before leaving your home or office to meet new people, please cross check you have enough business card in your wallet/card holder or not. When you are doing semi-formal conversations and taking cell number of the person, please ask her/his name spelling before saving it in your phone. Because, net time when you will send SMS to the person you really dont want to misspell her/his name.
Sending Email: Currently, email is a very strong medium of communication as well as networking. Therefore, your email should be that much impressive so that any person remember you because of your touchy email. The subject of the email should be short and specific to the topic. You should not write long notes in the body. Please write simple sentences and explain the subject matter properly. Start with positive talks to anyone then write if you have disagreement. If you think it is going to be a descriptive mail then please write details in a word file and attach this with the mail because your mail receiver might be busy at receiving time; so she/he can go through the details later on. One of the very important parts of your email is your signature at the bottom. Your email must have a signature with it. Please write your full name, designation, contact number, website, etc. correctly. You may add any of your favorite quotes of a famous person at the end. That will show your quality and your knowledge taste.
Dont miss occasion: What if you open your email account right after a religious holiday and you find a very warm wish from any of your business contact! Definitely, you will feel great to receive this. So, to maintain the effective corporate networking, please practice the process. Write short mail of wish and if possible an image posted in mail body. You may draft the mail at the beginning of the month but you can always send the mail just before you leave office for holiday. Reply nice and touchy way to occasion wishing mails. Remember, when you are receiving such mails it means that the person is more willing to share her/his happiness with you. So, please reply gently and politely with good emotional words.
Follow-up: Networking is as like as nurturing a plant from seed. If you do proper look after about your network it will pay you back. So, you need to plan how to develop the network and follow up regularly. Send emails after regular interval; call your valuable contacts once in a month, reply their mails properly and timely and if possible meet them after your office over a cup of tea or coffee. Try to schedule at least 4-5 visits to your clients or potential clients office physically. You can divide your city into few zones. As the traffic is a big problem, you can visit multiple offices in one day if you have separated zones to move on. Utilize your every communication channels to hold your network and sustain it.
To create new networks you can always meet new people, attend many corporate gatherings. But, it is more important to maintain your existing network appropriately. And interestingly, spending very small amount of money or considering half an hour of weekday schedule you can do that very easily. Having a strong network can uplift your career as well personal life. An African proverb says; If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.
The writer is marketing and branding professional, he can be contacted via email:
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