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Target Company List Part 2 – Avoid Unnecessary Referrals

December 15, 2008 By

One tip on how to organize your target list to avoid getting referrals you cannot use.  If someone opens up their book, the last thing you want to tell them is that you already have a contact.  So here’s a way to set expectations.

Organize the list into 3 categories:

1.        Need connections – in all departments

2.        Currently connected – but need contacts in targeted department

3.        Currently connected in department

 For #2 and #3, I listed who I met.   So if someone could offer me a higher connection (e.g. their SVP trumps my VP) or within my targeted department.

Filed Under: G. You're Rolling Now! Tagged With: ,

Checking Your Referrals

December 15, 2008 By

This is a lesson in protecting your reputation.  Before you meet with someone – see what you can learn about their business dealings.

I was able to meet with Clyde (Surprise! Not their real name).  He was very gracious, professional and extremely well connected.  Our meeting resulted in sixteen network contacts.  Wow!   That is a candidate’s dream – a week’s worth of networking in a single meeting.

Being so stoked about the meeting, I told my colleagues.   Then a good friend said “I’d be careful tying your name to Clyde’s.  His business reputation is very mixed”.   In time, I found this was very true, nothing unethical, but let’s just say he took care of himself.

Thank heaven my friend said something, as I’ve networked with people who prefer to not deal with Clyde.   Bullet dodged, lesson learned.

I did follow-up on Clyde’s contacts, but I was certain to establish my relationship with him. 

Filed Under: H. Watch Out - Curves Ahead Tagged With: , ,

Being honest about how well you know someone

December 15, 2008 By

It is nice having a strong relationship with the person who referred you – as the referral is seen as a personal recommendation.   Once you move along in the chain, the relationship is thin, but that does not mean you’re networking meeting is doomed.   It’s only doomed if you overplay the depth of the relationship.

At almost every meeting, the question of how well I know the person who made the introduction is asked.  I am straightforward; in fact, I give the entire chain of referrals.

The only comments I made that showed any type of ‘relationship’ with someone I had only met through networking was areas we had in common (colleagues, companies, etc.) and the number of referrals that they gave me.

I know overplaying your hand dooms the meeting.   Here’s another mistake I made early on in my networking – so you don’t want to make the same one.

While I did not outright lie, I was not clear and it set a poor tone for a couple meetings.  I used vague language regarding my relationship, figuring that the person I was meeting could ‘imagine’ what they like.  What I think they imagined in that “this guy is a desperate job seeker or an idiot or both!”

Filed Under: H. Watch Out - Curves Ahead Tagged With: ,