Managing all Those Connections, How Do You Do It?
One of my newest connections on LinkedIn sent me an email, with a question as to how I manage my connections. For those of you who are building a network and are “afraid” of over-extending yourself, read on . . .
Here is my response:
Don’t be overwhelmed, take it one step at a time and enjoy what you do! Most of all realize that not all connections will develop into strong business relationships, although our hope is that they will, reality is that they won’t. Don’t be disappointed. Do all you can to nurture your network in whatever time you have available to do it. Most of all, don’t overextend yourself. Enjoy building these relationships – international, multi-cultural relationships really open your eyes to the possibilities! Do only what you can do – and you are the only person who knows what that answer is.
Enjoy and most of all – let me know how I can be of help to you!
Networking is all about personal interactions . . . pass it on! Take whatever time is necessary to build some strong connections and don’t be concerned with having a large number of them. It doesn’t really matter how high your numbers are – it’s what you do with those numbers that is important!
There are so many social networks available today. Don’t feel like you “have” to belong to all of them. Be selective and look at the people who are participating. Do they fit into your target market or do they share a special hobby with you? Do what fits best into your life – don’t be bullied into joining up with everyone, everywhere. After all, how many places do you have to be seen in order to network with the same people all the time? All it takes is one network!
Tell me what you think – how many networks are YOU involved in . . . how do YOU handle YOUR connections?
As a final reminder, contacts are those you just met, connections are the next step in the relationship building process (the interactions) , relationship is the level you want to achieve. Work hard, help others and keep those contacts moving in the right direction. Decide what is best for YOU, whether it’s 15 minutes a day or 5 hours a day – choose your networks wisely.
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DeAnna Troupe
on February 22nd, 2008
Hey Carol,
It was great to hear you on the call yesterday with Heidi. You had some great questions. I love this post, especially the part about you don’t have to belong to every social networking site that exists. Great job!
Laurie Millane, Millane Virtual Assistants, LLC
on March 9th, 2008
Carol, you hit the nail on the head. We tend to feel like we have to belong to so many social networks. We want to be everywhere everyone else is and it can get out of hand.
You bring up an excellent point that we run into the same people in many different networking groups and that all it takes is one network. Sometimes we are so busy trying to keep up that we don’t see the obvious.
Thanks for helping me to see the light Carol.
Sandy Morgan, Independent Dist., Send Out Cards
on March 12th, 2008
Good advice Carol. One can waste an entire day getting back to all their Networking groups! I know because I have.
How doe one know which Network is the right one?
Kristie
on March 12th, 2008
Social netwroking can get a little crazy. I am always totally overwhelmed by how many posts some people manage to have time to type into Twitter, and I always wonder whether they ever get anything else done. Maybe that’s because they aren’t watching 3 kids while they work though.
As for me, I’m trying to dedicate 1 day a week to updating profiles and checking in on my less interactive networking sites. I still need to get inot a more established routine with this though!
-Kristie
Katherine Reschke
on March 20th, 2008
Carol, I love this message of avoiding overwhelm by being selective and realising we can only do what we can do. It is so easy to quickly become buried unless we learn to say “no” and to continually review what we are doing and drop what isn’t work for us. Love the blog and am so grateful for all you have to teach us on networking.
Carol Deckert
on May 28th, 2008
Sandy, you certainly raise a good question. A group that is right for me, may not necessarily be right for you, and vice versa. The best advice I can give you is to join one that has members that target the same market that you do. Give yourself permission to test it for a month – but at the same time, be sure to participate – post your questions/answers and offer solutions. See how the others respond to you and how you feel about their postings. If it “feels” right, then it is the right group for you. This is one time your “gut” will lead you in the right direction! I would look for the activity within the group – high number of postings, something being discussed daily and how many people actually participate. Email the individuals that are the contributing members and try to get to know something about them. Ask them questions to find out what they do and to uncover if there is some way you can add value to their business, by an introduction, offering a new service that can use, etc. Something that will help make their lives easier. Offering to help is THE absolute best way to get to know, like and trust someone. When you do make an offer, follow it though and most importantly, follow up to see how that affected your new contact’s life! Good luck – come back and post and let us know how this info helped you in your business!
Social Bookmarks
on October 29th, 2008
I love your thoughts! I normally don\’t even bother to leave comments, but I wanted to let you know that you hit the nail on the head!