5 Ways To Get Your Business Network To Provide Fanatical Support

5 ways to get your business network to provide fanatical support This is not your ordinary career site. I help the corporate worker who toils away in the company cubicle make career transitions. You want to do your job well, following all the rules -- . The career transitions where I can help you center on three critical career areas: How to land a job, succeed in a job, and build employment security. Top 10 Posts on Categories Pundits call for having and utilizing your business network to stay on top of your work world. But telling you that you should use your network is one thing; how to go about doing that is another. Networking is about helping and supporting others and having your business network help and support you. The help and support is not just about finding a job, though that is what is most written about. Instead, it is supporting each other in finding resources, helping solve problems and stay close to what is happening in your work world. In your one-on-one relationships with your business network, here are five principles to follow that will build a fanatical support business network. People in your business network can talk with you over lunch about some problem they are having â€" but never ask for specific enough help that you can take action on to solve the problem. When your business contact goes all over the map, ask what specifically you can do to help. The answer might be something simple as to getting some perspective on the problem by talking out loud with you about it. But, often, people either don’t know how or are embarrassed to ask for help. Cubicle Warriors overcome this by asking specifically how they can help. A great manager once told me that you should state what you need up front in a conversation and then provide the details. The person will then know where you are going and can ask better questions while you are getting there. This is perfect advice for asking support from your network. If you are looking for help, ask for it up front and then describe how and why the person you are talking to would be able to help. This approach will engage this person and both of you will come away with a better approach for support. No one wants to listen to a half hour story (or read a four page e-mail) only to get to what is needed at the end. When you advocate for someone in your business network, your personal reputation (or branding) is on the line. You are going to spend your relationship capital with someone you know for someone else. Consequently, you need to make sure that your reputation is maintained. A good example comes to mind. I have a former manager who was willing to advocate for me to someone else that he knew â€" but only after I supplied a one page listing of why I thought I was qualified for what was needed and provided an updated resume. A lot of people could be offended by that because it comes across as a lot of work for a phone call, but the work needs to get done so as to preserve the reputation of my former manager. I had a long conversation about using transferable skills to support having the right job skills for a new position of someone else in my business network. When I talked through a few that were on his resume, he asked if I could look it over and offer suggestions. I willingly did and told him to send it to me in e-mail and I’d turn it around quickly. That was six weeks ago. You think I’m so willing to look it over now? Not so much. Saying thanks to a person who helps you is no small thing to the person providing support. In the last couple of years I’ve provided job references for people that used to work for me. I always follow-up with the job candidate telling them that I got the reference and that I responded, usually through e-mail. Of all of the people I’ve given references for, only one has sent a note of thanks. Just one. And this is for a job reference â€" that thing that gives you a paycheck to support your family. You would think telling your job reference “thanks” for helping with getting the job would be a mandatory thing to do. But it most often isn’t. Amazing, really. If you want to have a group of people really supporting each other, follow these five ways to effectively work your business network. All pundits will tell you that your business network is the most important business tool you can now have to stay on top of your business and help find out where openings are for jobs. But building an effective business network takes time and effort. Get specific in what you ask for and what you can provide. Maintain your reputation when advocating for others. Do what you say you will do and give thanks to people that provide you support. Doing this over time will build a passionate support network that wins for all of you. How else can you support your business network? […] “consistently communicate” with these people means you regularly talk with them or exchange e-mails with them on their personal accounts. That doesn’t mean talking with them […] Reply […] the best way of finding opportunities is to learn about them from the people you know in other companies. Those people already have a good idea on what job opportunities there are in […] Reply […] 5 ways to get your business network to provide fanatical support […] Reply […] 5 ways to get your business network to provide fanatical support […] Reply One of the mistakes I made in my earlier career was to confuse my business network acquaintances with social friends. It meant that I more oblique in asking for what I wanted from my network, imagining that people in my network I spoke to would infer what I wanted and needed and pass it along. Wrong! I’ve learned the hard way your point about stating your agenda up front. For me, a key thing about networks is reciprocity. Don’t just expect others to do something for you, be prepared to do something for them and offer it. I’m a great believer in energetic forces â€" what you give out, you get back. Often in ways you couldn’t even have imagined. Reply @ Christine â€" this is a good point; the difference between a social network and a business network and one that people often overlook. A business network is really focused on knowledge around your job expertise whereas a social network is often entirely unrelated to business. A good comment; thanks. Reply […] 5 ways to get your business network to provide fanatical support […] Reply This is not your ordinary career site. I help the corporate worker who toils away in the company cubicle make career transitions. You want to do your job well, following all the rules â€" . 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