On your profile page, under Contacts at top, click Add Connections. Go to the right box titled Enter E-mail Addresses. All you need to invite someone to join your network is his or her e-mail. That’s it. Type 1 or 100 at a time in the box. Then click Send Invitations.
Your Challenge: Where do you dig up these connections? Where do they hide? Do you need to contact Homeland Security or Dog the Bounty Hunter to track them down? Pretty much!
TRADITIONAL SOURCES
Start with what you know: your current resources. Where do you store the names of your professional colleagues, friends, associates, and livestock?
Back to ‘ole basic traditional sources:
1. Old faded business cards held together with broken rubber bands
2. Rolodex® cards
3. Print & online directories (your institution, association, conferences)
4. iPhone/PDA directories
5. Other
Tap all of these previous sources. That could be a fairly long list or a tiny one based on the season of your career and your interpersonal skills. Once you have sent out the invitations, be patient. If they’re academicians, expect a very low response rate. Don’t take it personally. Most are not familiar with LinkedIn. Just persevere.
What’s Next? Beyond your current lists of potential invitees, my next blog will suggest 13 other sources I have used to build my network. That could conceivably be my most useful blog of 2010. Just wait for the nominations to come out. You can start on those sources over the holidays and during your break. I hope you get a break.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Here’s the final ingredient in your recipe for an effective elevator spiel:
3. FOLLOW-UP (How can you follow-up and maintain contact?): Most first-time encounters are superficial how-do-you-do events with no follow-up. You probably will see them again only in your dreams. Here we’re trying to build relationships. You need to go one step further to continue the initial contact. Make an effort to follow-up. At the end, don’t forget to
a. ask for a business card, e-mail address, or info on the session he or she is presenting so you can attend,
b. give an invitation to join your LinkedIn professional network, your session at the conference, a reception your institution is sponsoring, or to collaborate on something, and/or
c. schedule a follow-up meeting at the conference, preferably over a beverage or food.
Example 1: “I’ll be doing a session here tomorrow on that topic at 1:30. Here’s my card. May I have your card? I’ll contact you about joining my network on LinkedIn so we can stay in touch. I hope to see you at my session tomorrow.” (Note follow-ups with session invite, card, LinkedIn, and session reminder.)
Example 2: “I’m doing a workshop on a few of them on Thurs. at 10AM. Here’s my card. Do you have a card? Let me know if I can help your faculty. Here’s an invitation to my university’s reception tonight. See you there.” (Note card and invites to session, to help, and to reception.)
What do you think? Are the examples and focus of the spiel any different than what you’re already doing? Let me know your thoughts.
The next blog in this series will tie these examples together and address the delivery of the speech. There will also be a bonus example suggested. See you Mon. It’s time for a snack.
Have a blast this weekend! Also, don’t forget to set your watches and clocks to daylight savings time, if that applies; otherwise, you’ll be an hour late to my blog. Buhbye!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
