Business Guidance

It’s Who Knows You…The Importance Of Building Your Profile And Managing Your Reputation

18/05/2010

By Andy Lopata, Business Networking Strategist

Last year an attendee at a talk I gave stopped me to show me his Blackberry.

"There are 2,000 names and numbers in there," he told me. "Now, isn't that good networking?"

"Absolutely," I replied. "It's a good network if every one of those contacts knows who you are when you call, are happy to take your call and help you if needed".

"If not, it's just lighter than a telephone directory."

We all know the phrase 'It's not what you know, it's who you know'. Networking, however, does not thrive by that maxim. A culture has developed where success at a networking event is defined by the number of business cards you collect and the strength of a profile online is measured by the number of 'Friends', 'Followers' or 'Connections'.

This culture is both short-sighted and misguided. The author and entrepreneur Seth Godin put it well when he said "Networking is always important when it's real and it's always a useless distraction when it's fake." Mass connections with no interaction lead to 'fake' networking and a distraction from what you are doing.

Rather than focus on "who you know", your time is much better spent understanding who knows you...and what they are saying about you. If your business is to be successful and opportunities open up you need people to be saying the right things about you when you are not there.

A lack of profile will not help any business succeed. Whether that profile is widespread or among a very closely defined group of people, your reputation counts. The most traditional way of raising profile, particularly for bigger companies, is through advertising and sponsorship. Yet for so many people, particularly in the current economic climate, such opportunities are out of reach. Instead, networking plays a key role.

Successful businesses recognise the value of having a team of people talking about them and associating them with excellence in their field. More than ever we are inclined to listen to our peers when making buying decisions and a strong reputation can prove to be the right foundation for building a business.

Understand where you want that profile to go and pick your networks accordingly. Are your potential clients based in a geographic area, within one or more industries? Do the people who decide to use your services tend to be from one or two key roles within organisations, such as Sales Directors or Heads of HR? Wherever you need the word spread, understand to whom those people will be talking, where they are most likely to hear about you and network accordingly.

The growth of online networks has made it even easier to raise your profile and spread the word. Clearly, online networks are a much easier way to reach a wider audience and grow a global reputation, but there are also a large number of niche networks on the internet, serving different industries, interest groups and locations.

A word of warning here, it is one thing to spread the word about your business, online or off. It is quite another to manage what is being said about you. It is important that you have a clearly defined view of what your message is and what you want people to say about you.

Attending networking events and continually moaning, whether about the state of the economy, other people in your network or even the quality of the food on offer, is not going to endear you to others. Nor is it likely to encourage them to talk about you positively.

In a similar vein, simply being seen is not enough. Sure, the more people you connect with, the more will be aware of you. What will they think of you though? What will they be saying to others?

Many people get this part wrong by just pushing their message out to all and sundry. Their aim seems to be to target as many people as possible. The problem with this approach is that the impression made, if any, is a fleeting and in many cases negative one. It is much more productive to focus on building strong relationships with a few key influencers, who will then go out of their way to talk about you to others.

Managing the message that others communicate on your behalf is another key to developing a strong reputation networking strategy. Ask yourself the question before you connect with anyone else as part of your business strategy, 'After someone has met me, how would I want them to describe me to someone else?'

You can be in control of what others say about you, the key is to think about it in advance. Picture the impact you have on others, does it reflect how you would like to be seen? Do people understand what you do, who you do it for and why others would want to know about you?

The more you give me to remember the more I have to forget. Keep your message simple, applicable to the people you are speaking with and easy for them to relay to their network. A focused and concise message is far more likely to be repeated confidently and accurately.

Don't be fooled into thinking the larger your network and the more names in your phone book, the better your network.


Ask yourself two key questions:

- What do I want people to say about me?

- Who do I want them to say it to?

and focus your efforts around making sure you make the right impact in the right places.

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