Book giveaway winners announced!
We had 19 stories for the “What’s the best/worst networking experience you’ve ever had?” contest.
Here are the stories.
And here are the winners:
I love this first winner because it shows how easy it is to get huge results. Sometimes, all it takes is one email. (And if one doesn’t work, send more.)
#3, by Scott Andrew:
I’ve never had a truly bad networking experience. Usually, the worst that happens is: nothing happens.
So here’s my best:
I’m a solo musician of the coffeeshop variety. On my way back from the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, I was standing alone in the airport waiting to board my plane, when a guy with blue hair standing nearby noticed my guitar case. “Did you play at the conference?” he asked. We started chatting about the different acts we’d seen, who was good, etc. It turned out this guy was a music promoter in my hometown. When he found out I had spoken on a panel, he asked if I knew who to talk to be considered as a panel speaker. I said I’d forward him some info when I got home.
As I got off the plane, I realized I had forgotten to give him a CD of my own music, which is pretty standard music networking stuff. But after many years of attending conferences like SXSW, I was worn and tired of always cajoling people to listen and/or care. I figured the guy’s suitcase was already full of CDs from hopeful artists looking for a break, most of which he’d probably just chuck in the trash, so I let it slide.
When I got home, I emailed blue hair guy a nice-meeting-you note, and the email address of one of the conference planners.
A few weeks went by and suddenly I got an email from him. There was a major label artist coming through town. Did I want the opening slot?
Weeks later I found myself playing in front of a packed house in one of the larger rock clubs in Seattle. I sold a ton of CDs and filled my mailing list with new people, some of which are still my biggest fans and supporters. Through those same people I found willing volunteers who hang posters for me and refer me to venues throughout the area.
Almost two years later, I’m still benefitting from that single, one-line email. And I didn’t even give him a CD.
But I don’t want this story to be about just what I got out of the deal. As a guy who’s usually pretty quiet and reserved offstage, the bigger lesson I took from this is a lot of successful networking comes from just being open and willing to share resources, and hook people up when the opportunity arises.
The second winner is a pro who knows how to use his resources to maximize the chances of success. Already going to lunch with a new business contact? Why not call up people who know the person, so you go in already knowing something?
#18, by Stephen:
So anyhow, I was finishing law school and looking for a job. I had been active in service and leadership. I had worked at several law firms as a clerk. I had clerked with a couple of judges. I had been meeting and connecting with as many people as I could. In Keith’s lingo, they were mainly shallow bumps, but they were bumps none the less. However, I managed deep bumps with my employers.
I found the perfect job opening. I wanted it. I immediately began to talk with my mentors and contacts to see who knew any of the partners at the firm which had the opening. Luck would have it that my mentors and friends knew several attorneys and one was currently working on a case with the hiring partner. I asked them all to help me in any way they could. They did.
As an added measure, I researched each partner and associate at the firm. I saw that one was an adjunct professor who I knew casually. I called him with a genuine interest to learn more about the firm.
He brought along two other attorneys. We had a great lunch and I attempted the deep bump with each (by this time I had read Never Eat Alone, which is my number one book next to Getting Things Done by David Allen). At the end of this casual lunch, one of the attorneys asked if I had sent in my resume. I said yes. Surprisingly, he then said he would look for it when he got back to the office and make sure I got a first intervew, with HIM.
I also talked with an assistant dean, with whom I had several deep bumps and worked with closely. He connected me with the newest associate of the firm, who had been hired just a year previously, from my school. I spoke with her, and found at the end of our discussion that she would be the other interviewer.
Before the first interview, I had met with and connected with the two interviewers through connections I had made over the previous two years.
More amazingly, in the end, my first interview was a formality, because my lunch meeting went so well, the adjunct attorney I went to lunch with offered me a second round interview BEFORE I had my first interview. He had taken personal interest in my candidacy because of my attempt to connect with him.
I had made enough solid personal connections, with enough people to leapfrog through the process. I was later offered a position and told that in the end, I was the top candidate by far, because of the connections I had made.
It didn’t hurt that I researched the second round interviewers and the firm so that I could execute a deep bump in each interviews by discussing real problems and real cases that they were currently working on.
Keith shifted my paradigm. I previously hated networking because I saw it as a shallow exercise in futility. I felt shallow. However, once I felt the power of the deep bump, I felt the shift. My deep human desire for honest personal connections was not an impediment to networking, but rather, my desire is the heart and soul of true networking.
Thanks for a moment to share and the forum to do it.
The runner-up is Russ, who sent this in. I think Russ is right, and his boss is wrong–but that’s absolutely to be expected from most people’s impression of “networking.”
Not so much an experience as a viewpoint: The Sales Manager who hired me for my 1st job out of school always said, “Networking is only 1 letter away from being ‘Not-working’”.
I did, and still do, disagree with this sentiment, but thought it was an interesting example of people’s preconceived notions and/or misinterpretation of a concept.
I’ll be sending the winners a copy of Never Eat Alone, signed by Keith Ferrazi.
Thanks for your entries.
