A Networking Book

By Paul J.R. Renaud

Never before has the world been so interconnected. Understanding that everything we accomplish is done through connections, networking becomes the key to success in your business, career and relationships. Many of us aren’t comfortable breaking the ice or meeting new people, but it’s a learned skill and not all that difficult. A Networking Book will get you there with ease and confidence.

Paul J.R. Renaud, author of A Networking Book is a marketing expert and executive coach, an experienced international executive, lecturer and facilitator. He offers a comprehensive look at what it takes to become an effective networker, regardless of your comfort level. Paul will give you terrific advice, tips and methods to quickly bring you to the top of your game. Novice or expert, he’ll show you how to effectively reach more clients, colleagues, customers, partners and friends, with techniques he’s proven over the world to increase his own network and build a career.

Discover the fundamentals of networking, as you become confident and welcome rather than fear that next event and your opportunity to meet people. Apply what Paul teaches to dramatically increase your skills, while having fun in the process.

Paul J.R. Renaud is a qualified Executive Coach with over 30 years’ experience in senior Marketing roles having lived and worked in Asia, South America, North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He is an avid Networker and a dynamo in helping people perform above their expectations. His blog is called “I Feel Good” which deals with Coaching and peak performance and he is Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Maastricht School of Management for the Executive MBA program in Bucharest and the University of New York in Prague ( UNYP).

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483527659

Book preview

Glossary

Introduction

It seems I’ve been Networking all my life.

My first job, when I was twelve as a newspaper boy, began when a good friend was delivering the Ottawa Journal door-to-door and I asked him to recommend me to his boss, John Sauvé. John was the District Supervisor and his job was to deliver newspaper bundles at specific corners for home deliverers like me. John was in his 30s, had a boisterous laugh, a great personality and you could tell that he mastered this ‘thing’ called the management of early entrepreneurs, like me.

I met John, he interviewed me (this took about three and a half minutes) and Boom! I got the job. Then John wanted me to get more subscribers. They called it ‘canvassing’ back then. Knocking door-to-door and asking Hi! Do you want me to deliver the Ottawa Journal? Pretty simple right? Potential clients were pretty nice. They would just say No, or on a good day, YES! They weren’t rude or anything because, after all, I was just a kid. Then I would knock on the next door and repeat the same question.

If I got five new subscribers in the same week, I would qualify to earn a nifty change machine. Cool!

This led to delivering another Daily newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen. That meant that now I had two paper routes to run after school. When the Ottawa Journal shut down, I had learned to always keep my options open, so I was soon Networking for the local manager of Le Droit (the French daily) in order to keep myself employed.

Then as I got much older, the magic age of sixteen, I got a real job, flipping burgers at McDonald’s. My buddy, Denis Perreault, was Crew Chief at the local McDonald’s and I asked him to introduce me to his boss. Boom! I got hired on the spot. I figured this ‘meeting bosses and getting a job’ was pretty easy.

Then in university my sense of civic duty got me elected VP of academic affairs. I’m still not sure what the big title meant, aside from easier access to parties, but I took it seriously and I was now organizing ‘Job Searching workshops,’ where I invited key employers and speakers from Proctor and Gamble, Seagram’s and London Life onto the campus to meet students for recruitment purposes. That also landed my very first real real job after graduation, as a management trainee for the Toronto Dominion Bank.

Networking is really about ‘marketing yourself.’

Fast forwarding my career to a point where I began to see the benefits and exhilaration of living abroad, it occurred to me that networking with different cultures would require even better networking skills, since this implied interacting with complete strangers in different countries and varied language skills.

I went on to live and work in just about every region in the world. The sheer fact of living in Canada, America, Brazil, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti and Algeria, while surrounded by complete strangers was daunting, but I knew that I had to network if I wanted to work (and hence, eat). My hosts in these new countries were friendly, but ‘friendly’ doesn’t cut it when you need to work. After all, I was a ‘foreigner.’

I soon remembered that, in general, networking was a whole lot easier in Canada among friends and family. This transition to living abroad was tough since, in many cases, I’d failed to read the culture properly and whenever I felt that I was making progress with, perhaps a Brazilian national or someone from Thailand, the real answer was, Yes of course, but no.

Looking back at how I, as a foreigner in a foreign land, successfully found clients, I equate it to my passion for people and business, my goal to become a better networker, the people from a different culture who were open to helping me and, at times, a bit of raw luck.

My purpose in writing this book is to help people learn how to network, to raise their awareness to the benefits of connecting with people, to learn from my mistakes and ultimately give back this hard-won experience to others. My goal for this book is to help someone today and for tomorrow as well. Actually, I hope the book will be helpful through a lifetime of tomorrows.

Being passionate about marketing and having taught marketing surely helps the process of writing a book about networking, since networking is really about ‘marketing yourself’ or in the groovy latest term, ‘personal branding.’

At any given time in your life you will have to market yourself.

If you haven’t done so by now, or if you feel hesitant in this area, why not start?

If you’re thinking ‘I know every trick in the book,’ think again. Any successful sales professional knows that, even though they know sales, it’s always productive to go back to the basics, learn a few new tricks and go back over some of the ‘tricks of the trade,’ since human nature teaches us that we can often forget the obvious. Besides life itself is a learning process.

Hopefully as you progress through these pages you’ll understand that networking is not a means to an end, but rather a state of mind and a powerful way to grow your business or career.

Step by step approach:

I’ve experienced a lot of things I wish they had taught me in business school and networking is one of them. It seems that there was never enough class-time, interest or hands-on knowledge to add this topic to the curriculum.

Networking in simple terms is a set of activities that increases the number of your contacts; friends and family, work-related or professional. If one learns to network effectively, this translates into a larger net of like-minded people who ultimately help you, your company or your business.

Don’t ever think it’s not a learned skill, no matter how successful your Uncle Bill was without ever getting past eighth grade. Uncle Bill was a natural and there are a few of them around but, for most of us, it’s a learned skill.

Let’s look at a few definitions of Networking:

Devora Zack defines Networking as: ‘Networking is the art of building and maintaining connections for shared positive outcomes’.¹

How about a definition According to Ivan Misner, the founder of Business Networkers International: ‘Networking is the process of developing contacts and relationships to increase your business, enhance your knowledge, expand your sphere of influence, or serve the community. In its most basic form, business Networking is leveraging your business and personal connections to bring you a regular supply of new business’.²

I prefer my easier definition: It’s easier to remember and it encapsulates the above: ‘Building connections effectively.’

Networking is ‘building connections effectively.’

This definition implies business contacts and personal contacts and it also implies that you are effective. Effectiveness in networking means you are increasing the number of your contacts and you give back by reciprocating and sending names forward to your colleagues. You are also effective when you understand that nothing replaces face-to-face connections, yet you also use social media to amplify those efforts to reach out to people that may not be physically reachable.

Oddly enough the more research and deeper I dug into the topic of networking, the more I found that sources are mainly based out of the US and they’re mostly in the style of self-help books. What this book offers is a global view of networking; with its many challenges, a few cultural insights and by the means of a story telling format. With a few examples, I want to give you the tools you need to become a master of networking. The good news is that anyone can crack the code. It just needs a bit of discipline and practice.

Let’s resolve at the outset some preconceived notions of Networking being manipulative or underhanded.

When you reach out to people for support, that’s hardly manipulative, particularly when you give back. Rather it’s admitting you can’t do it all on your own. It’s also recognizing that networking helps you gain more contacts. Further, it’s accepting that you can’t possibly know everyone available to you in a particular matter or circumstance.

• Is a good networker considered strategic and driven? Depending on your approach and sincerity you can be strategic, driven and effective. Networking was not invented yesterday and it’s there for you to benefit from and, as you will see, you only need to become engaged.

• What is the most important attribute or ingredient for networking success? Your attitude. Regardless of whether you’re beginning to understand what networking is all about or you feel that you are pretty comfortable with the concept, one constant remains the same: Your attitude. If you’re desperate when you network or willing to help and reciprocate, those you contact will feel it and respond accordingly. Everything depends on attitude and, just like friendships, what you get back depends on what you’re willing to give.

The most important ingredient of your networking success is your attitude.

• Sometimes some networking calls are futile. I remember trying to help a fellow by connecting him to a few of my peers in Vancouver. He kept calling me every week. When I asked him what was he looking for exactly (a basic objective of networking) he told me Paul I’ll do anything. That destroyed my ability to specifically recommend him for a position and, as a result, I wasn’t able to help him. His desperation affected my positive energy and that’s not a ‘win-win’ situation in networking.

We have to stay open and optimistic when it comes to networking, no matter how tough and dire our current situation really is. Looking for creative ways to overcome difficulties and meet objectives is a sure way to come across as more relaxed and engaged. Others will help you if you’re cool and collected in your approach.

As a seasoned networker with multi-national experience, I can assure you that anyone can get good at the game. It just takes a bit of focus, attention and diligence.

Networking is not rocket science.

The truths in this book were not uncovered overnight. The tactics, tips, and steps have been practiced for over a thousand years. My goal with the book is to dig out the wisdom that’s out there and make it both easy-to-read and easy-to-apply, so you can learn and apply these networking skills as I have.

Together, we’ll develop a step by step approach that will make networking not only fun, but exhilarating once you apply these skills and use them to meet anyone you please. As you improve those skills, you’ll understand the power you’ve always had and perhaps wish you’d begun sooner.

What you can expect from A Networking Book

• What it takes to become an effective networker by understanding its basic truths and applying the rules to your personal advantage.

• Apply practical, easy-to-apply tips guiding you through increasing the size and power of your network.

• Gain insights from positive examples of successful networking experiences from my own network that I’ve isolated and collected while preparing this book.

In terms of the approaches I’ll be using, let me set the record straight:

First, the topics we’re going to discuss don’t apply only to business, but for careers as well. The basics will work for you, whether you’re an entrepreneur, working for someone else, involved with a governmental organization, an NGO or you’re an artist or bartender. Sooner or later, you’ll take that leap of faith to the next step upward.

Secondly, I use the masculine vs. feminine in some of my examples. That’s for clarity and ease of writing, but these techniques apply to both sexes.

I coach executives for a living, so I tend to be pretty direct with my suggestions. Since we’re not in a one-on-one coaching protocol, consider my suggestions in that context. I expect to help you, so I may ‘get in your face’ from time to time to make a point.

For all my generational (X, Y or Z), readers who may have workaholic parents, this book is not another lecture from your parents. It’s a tool to help you, your life and your career – yes in that order! Over a thirty year career I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly so though it may sound like a lecture, I’m only highlighting the pitfalls.

For my Leading-edge (born in 1946-54) or Trailing-edge (born 1955-65) Baby Boomer readers who are probably contemplating a new career, read these techniques as a method of ‘oiling the machine.’ If you’re like me, you know there is no substitute for experience. So even though you may feel you’ve seen it all (and probably have), remember we always need reminders of fundamental truths when it comes to networking and some things have changed.

Finally, to avoid any misunderstandings I will be using the word ‘product’ in this book in many instances. The product is what you are selling which may be a tangible product (tablet, yogurt or detergent), a service (iPhone application, online game, or satellite TV service) or quite simply you as a person. It doesn’t matter. In the endgame and under any circumstance, the product is you.

Chapter One

The Law of Abundance

The ‘Law of Abundance’ is a fundamental truth that applies to networking, because if you understand it, believe in it and begin to share your network, others will reciprocate in droves. It goes something like this:

An abundance mindset is a paradigm that there is plenty out there to spare for everybody.

Stephen Covey

In order to get into the positive spirit of this law we must recognize that the world contains tremendous abundance. The world is abundant with opportunity, clients, ideas and good fortune. Tapping that well of abundance is what networking is all about.

Stephen Covey in his widely-acclaimed book titled The Seven Principles of Highly Effective People, discusses what he calls the Abundance mindset.

According to Covey, an abundance mindset is a paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in the sharing of prestige, recognition, of profits of decision making because it opens possibilities, options, alternatives and creativity.³

In other words it’s when we believe and agree that there are unlimited resources and success available to share with others.

This abundance mindset is in complete opposition to the ‘scarcity mindset’ that is founded on the idea that if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you must lose. It’s also called the zero-sum game. Those with an abundance mentality reject the notion of zero-sum games and are able to celebrate the success of others rather than feel threatened.

In marketing lingo we often refer to ‘how big is the pie’ or ‘how big is the market for my products or services?’ We