How to Network Your Way into Value    Building your network is an important step in being a success in sales. With a good network, you’re able to network your value. Curt Tueffert is the Vice President of sales development for a large industrial distributor in Houston, Texas.  The company was founded in 1908  is now a multinational publicly traded company with over 200 outside sales. Curt’s job is to manage a small group responsible for developing sales training, sales leadership, and vision casting for the rest of the team.    Curt is also a sales instructor at the University of Houston, an author of two books, and travels across the United States trying to coach people in getting better at sales. He teaches that sales is a work in progress and no two sales are the same. Each sale needs to be approached with curiosity to discover what is needed to build relationships.    Defining networking and value Curt points out that networking isn’t about the people you know, it’s about the people who know you. You can know 10 people but it’s more important to have 100 people who know you and see you as a source and resource of value. Customers and prospects are the ones who define your value in sales. You expand your network by constant communication and the cadence in which you release information they feel is valuable. This is especially true at this time where we have new rules of engagement in 2020. Now that you have time, this is a great opportunity to enhance and increase your network.    Network your way into value  Curt shares three ways you can network your way into value:   Create an organizational chart by knowing who is connected to who in the organization. Who knows you? Increase your influence quotient.    These elements affect your ability to influence other people  using the research you’ve uncovered, and how you barter your information in exchange for information they can provide in turn.  This is what networking is all about.  The organization chart Let’s look at a company that has multiple branches of influence. When you build your organizational chart, you may start with one person but you need to know who is above them and below them, who their peers are, and the chain of command.  Ideally, you want to know who is two levels up, two levels across, and two levels deep. Why so much effort?  Let’s use “Greg” as an example. Greg is the person you talk to in the organization and he’s in purchasing, maintenance or the engineer. In the entire organization, you only know Greg, not his peers, the people they report to, or who their leaders are. In the event of lay-off or acquisition where Greg gets replaced, without an organizational chart, that account is lost to you. You need to know who else you can talk to.   Salespeople tend to move through the path of least resistance, going to the nicest people or those who accept the gifts. There’s got to be a deeper knowledge of the accounts you’re working with.  If you don’t know all the other players, you’ll be cut out of the loop if the organizational chart changes. However, if  you have taken the time to know Greg, you know that Greg’s boss is Lisa and Lisa’s boss is David. The fact that David knows you will allow you to present your value proposition up your organization chart, across your organization chart, and down your organizational chart. When your number one contact gets promoted up or out of the company, continue to update that network.    It is detrimental for a salesperson to not have an organization chart for his top 10 accounts since these accounts typically represent 90% of your W2. If you lose one of your accounts, you may decrease your W2  by 42%, all because you didn’t take the time to do the heavy lifting on the front end.    Building the connection Building the connection then and now is different. Your job as a salesperson is to become a detective through social media and to build those relationships in person. If you want to network for value, you’ve go