It's Greg, the Introverted Networker, and I'm thrilled to bring you the 50th issue of our newsletter!
Can you believe it?
We've come a long way since I started this journey almost a year ago. I'm grateful for your support and excited to celebrate this milestone with you.
In this special edition, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the topics we've covered in the past and summarize my networking method.
Whether you're a long-time reader or new to the Introverted Networker community, this is the perfect opportunity to revisit important insights or dive into the content you might have missed.
This issue takes about 7 minutes to read.
But first,
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve added an audio podcast the past couple of weeks.
These audio versions of the newsletter “go deep” into my thoughts on the topics I share in each week’s newsletter.
This is a “behind the scenes” look at how I come up with the content in the newsletter.
If you like the newsletter, check out the audio podcasts to get even more tips and tricks to improve your networking!
“I know I need to network, but I don’t know where to start” - (Almost) Everyone
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this statement.
If that sounds like you, don't worry—I've got you covered!
This week, I shared nine steps on LinkedIn that serve as the starting point for anyone who knows they need to network, but doesn’t know where to start:
In this issue, I'll walk you through these steps with more details than I shared in the LinkedIn post.
My Step By Step Networking Process
Step 1: Find Your Dormant Ties:
Let's kick off your networking journey by reconnecting with your dormant ties.
These are people you once worked with or went to school with but lost touch with over time.
It's completely normal, and we all experience it.
You're going to create a list of your dormant ties.
For this list, we're going to focus on people you've worked with in the past.
There are two ways to do this:
The first:
Look at your resume or LinkedIn profile and start with the last job you had.
Write down the names of everyone you can remember.
If you need help remembering who worked there, visualize what the office looked like and take a mental walk around the office. Who are the people you used to see every day? Add their names to your list.
The second:
Go to your LinkedIn profile and click on go to the Experience section. Pick one of the companies you worked for in the past.
Click on the logo of the company. You’ll go to the company page and there sill be a link that says, “[x number] other connections work here.” Click that link.
You’ll see a list of your 1st-degree connections that have this company listed as their current company of their profile.
Who are you already a 1st-degree connection with but haven't talked to in a long time? Add these people to your list if they aren't already on it.
You can switch the filters at the top of the page to 2nd-degree connections. Who are the people who are 2nd-degree connections that you know well enough to send a connection request to? Add these people to the list of people you are going to connect with.
You can also change the filters so that you are looking at people who have the company name as a past company they have worked for. This means your connections have left the company to go somewhere else. Look at these connections and add the ones to your list you would feel comfortable talking to.
Do this for every company where you have worked.
Write the names of these people on a piece of paper, in a Word or Google doc or in a spreadsheet.
Take a look at TIN #001 - How To Network If You Don't Know Anyone, if you want to get deeper into this step.
Step 2: Send The Reconnection Message
Now that you've identified your dormant ties, it's time to send them this simple message via email or LinkedIn message:
"𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻?”
Don't overcomplicate it—just let them know you were thinking of them and that you'd love to catch up.
You'll be surprised how often people respond positively to this message.
Remember to be patient and give them some time to reply. You can find more tips on this step in TIN #002 - How To Re-Connect With The Network You Already Have.
Step 3: Turning Online Interactions into Real World Conversations
Online interactions are great, but we want to take it a step further and have real life conversations.
This is how you develop strong professional relationships.
For the people who respond to your reconnection message, suggest meeting up for a coffee if they live nearby, or propose a 15-minute phone call if distance is a challenge.
Face-to-face or voice-to-voice conversations allow for deeper connections.
In this step, be the one who sets up the meeting.
Be flexible with your schedule to make it easy on the other person’s calendar.
If you are meeting by phone, be the one who initiates the call.
Step 4: Ask and Listen
Once you've set up a conversation, you might wonder what to talk about.
Introverts have anxiety about this.
They think this needs to be a formal conversation with some type of agenda.
I remind them they’re talking to someone they already know.
They don't need to impress this person. They don't need to give an elevator pitch.
Instead, they need to have a conversation with a former colleague to catch up on what’s going on in their lives.
Even with this guidance, my students ask me, "What are we going to talk about?"
My answer is “If you don't know what to talk about, ask your connections about their favorite topic.”
The next question is: “How do I know their favorite topic?”
Everyone in the world has the same favorite topic.
It’s the topic they know the most about:
THEMSELVES.
Ask the person about themselves, and then listen to what they say.
Ask them questions like:
What have you been working on?
What have you been struggling with?
What or who do you wish you already knew?
When they answer, don't interrupt or zone out or look at your phone.
Listen to what they say.
They’ll feel good talking about themselves.
They’ll feel good talking to you.
What do you get out of it?
Besides becoming someone’s favorite person to talk to, the answers to these questions are going to be the key to developing your deep professional relationship with your connection.
For more details on these conversations, check out TIN #003 - What To Say In A Networking Conversation.
Step 5: GIVE
As you are listening to your connection talk about themselves, think about what you can give to them.
If you can’t think of anything, remember this:
You can give AIR
Advice
Introductions
Recommendations
I got this acronym from Hannah Morgan at Career Sherpa, and I love how it summarizes what we can give to others when we network.
Advice: Share the knowledge you have even if you think everyone already knows it.
You'll be surprised how often you give your connection something of value when you share the nuggets of your personal wisdom.
Introductions: In some cases, your recommendation may be another person your connection should meet.
In this situation, you can introduce your connection to the other person you know. This allows your connection to grow his network.
For introductions, handle them carefully. If you’re going to introduce your connection to someone you already know, you need to be sure the person you already know is open to connecting with new people.
The best way to find this out is to ask the person you already know if she would be open to meeting your connection.
Recommendations: These might be books or articles your connection can read or videos and speeches she should watch.
This is like advice, but recommendations are more tangible because you can share a link or a specific source outside your own knowledge.
What if you’re having a conversation with one of your networking connections and you can't think of anything to give?
If all else fails, you can give them something everyone has: your attention.
For more info on what you can give and why it makes networking feel less awkward, check out TIN #004 - How To Make Networking Feel Good.
Step 6: Tell Your Connection Who You Want To Meet
When you’ve given AIR or attention to your connection, she’s naturally going to want to help you.
At some point, she’ll say, “How can I help you?”
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for.
But to really make it count, you have to be Easy To Help.
You have to make it easy for the other person to help you.
The best way to do this is by using a Target List.
When I talk to people about networking to find a job, I tell them to create a target list of companies.
This is a list of companies you want to learn about to decide if you want to work there or not.
It is an actual document, well-crafted and well-formatted.
It needs to be a physical list you can hand to connections or email to them.
It forces you to get specific and put thoughts to paper. If you don’t write it down, you will stumble on the names of the companies when your connection asks which companies you’re interested in.
When you have a list of companies in front of your connection, you prime her brain and make it easier for her to think of people.
The list of companies cues your connection to flip through her mental Rolodex to think of people she can connect you with.
For more info on how to create a Target List, go read TIN 005 - How To Get People To Help You (Without Asking)
Step 7: Give Your Connection Your Target List
Make sure your connection can take the Target List with her. You’ll be amazed how often a connection will take your list and call you a few weeks later saying, “Hey, I remembered I knew someone on your list. Let me connect you.”
And this is the magic of networking.
Now, someone who knows you, who had been helped by you, and who wants to help you is going to connect you with someone new.
This is how your network grows.
Step 8: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
When you get introduced to the new person by your connection, go back to step 3 and start again.
Step 9: Make This A Habit
As you can see, my approach to networking is a cycle. It can go on forever, if you keep following the steps.
However, it can be hard to keep contacting dormant ties, setting up conversations, meeting new people.
If you stop following the process, your network stops growing.
You need to find a way to make the process sustainable.
You need to create a networking habit.
My favorite way to create new habits is the Tiny Habits method I discussed in TIN #007 - How To Create A Networking Habit
There are other ways to develop habits. Use whatever works for you, but be sure you develop a way to keep your networking going.
As we reach the 50th issue, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and engagement.
Your involvement in the Introverted Networker community means the world to me.
Let's continue to network with authenticity, curiosity, and perseverance.
Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey, and here's to many more connections!