Networking, A Few Simple Ideas

11.30.2011

About two months ago I decided to conduct a quick study on how people approached a popular networking event. Knowing some of the participants as prospects, co-workers and competitors I felt like it was well worth my time to see how I can further educate myself on “working the room.” I first focused on the participants who looked like they would rather be home cleaning out their closets or preparing their taxes. I saw and knew a “Director of Sales” who clearly did her time, made an appearance, had a glass of wine, and chalked it to an activity she could document on her weekly report….I next witnessed one of the most successful owners in the industry; truth be told he was a bit obnoxious but clearly was on a mission to provide his staff with a list of prospects and/or leads to follow up on later that week or within the next ten days. As in life, in business we have to put our own spin on things. Networking is no different. Be true to yourself. Be consistent. Be honest. And have a plan. Here’s some ideas to implement the next time you go out, but remember, have fun with them!

First, don’t go in cold. Research who’s going to be there. Have a wish list of meet and greets. Next travel and dress professionally. Try to wear something to separate yourself without drawing unwanted attention and have your business cards readily available to exchange. Walk in with confidence. Know that you have a valuable service or product to market. Breakfast buffets are a great way to kick off conversations. There’s no pressure, no selling, and they are a sure fire way to engage you in the swing of things. Always maintain eye contact. Don’t focus on name tags; it makes you look shifty and less personable…

Having done your homework, approaching VIPs and guest speakers will prove to supercharge your success rate. Most presenters love to talk about themselves and/or their company. Take advantage of that and listen. Next, make an effort with the “lone wolves” in the crowd. They’ll appreciate your willingness to engage and more often you’ll “connect” with the one on one approach opposed to the social network groups that have formed and find themselves talking more about the latest Boston Championship and less about business and connections.

Looking for an opener…How about a simple “And you are?” or “What is your connection to the event?” said with a smile….Remember the goal is to ask about them first; that way you can control the rest of the conversation. As in baseball, if we can hit on one out of three people we’re going to be successful. Another key component of working the room is enlisting a “mutual acquaintance” for easy conversation and a vote of confidence from the implicit endorsement…

Lastly, put yourself out there as a matchmaker. If you happen to be talking to somebody who you enjoy and see value in their services ask them “How can I help you?”…If you make a honest effort it will pay off in spades. Remember you’re not there to sell, you are there for the right to follow up with a phone call, a cup of coffee, or a meeting. At the end of the day if you get one solid prospect, let me repeat that one solid prospect, it’s well worth it….Networking is all about making friends, enjoy it!!

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Posted in Baseball, Psychology, Self Improvement, Wayne Sutherland |

The Value of a Graduate Degree

09.12.2011

The other week Gini Dietrich of Arment Dietrich, and long time friend of Randolph Sterling, posted on her blog, Spin Sucks, a link to an article by Penelope Trunk on why NOT to hire people who have gone to grad school. Needless to say, many people disagreed with Trunk’s opinion. Personally, I have to say that as someone who just started working on their Master’s degree, who also maintains a position as the director of social media here at Randolph Sterling, I actually I half agree with much of what Trunk said.

To summarize:

  • Grad school allows people to avoid the real world through a period of protracted adolescence
  • PhDs in the Humanities are worthless
  • MBAs are for people who the lack confidence to invest in themselves
  • Lawyers are miserable
  • And having multiple PhDs shows you do not know yourself very well

Now, I do not believe that everyone should be expected to know how they will spend the rest of their life at twenty-two, or that what one does for intellectual fulfillment should preclude them from a more practical job if they are otherwise qualified. Yet, I do feel some of the generalizations are generally dead on.

Whether intentional or not, pursuing a graduate degree can allow one to escape the real world a little longer while living off of some combination of funds from loans, parents, the government, and a university. A Humanities degree at $3,500-$40,000/year + $10,000-$15,000/year for living expenses for 2-5 years probably isn’t worth the $60,000/year you’ll be making assuming you can even get a job as a Humanities professor. Asking someone with an MBA why they chose to invest two years of their life and tens of thousands of dollars in that way as opposed to working in the real world or investing in their own entrepreneurial venture, seems like a fair enough question. And, everyone knows lawyers are miserable.

So, what is the big deal about saying this stuff out loud (or writing it on a blog?). I think that the big deal is that in this country many of us tend to hold two very contradictory views concerning education. One is that education is an invaluable thing that everyone should have, and that no one should dare criticize those who seek it or those who provide it. The other is that after a certain point it is not a very practical thing. Yes it is nice to know stuff and to be cultured and well informed, but ultimately knowing who wrote The Iliad is not very likely going to get you a new client, while being able to improve your managerial skills by reading a biography on George Washington or being able to take the work of John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, or Robert Cialdini and use it to improve your advertising or sales prowess takes a special kind of person (especially with the first two, although it can be done).

But again, people tend not to say things like this because it seems to raise a certain level of cognitive dissonance (feel free to guess what at least one of my two majors was as an undergrad) as their two opposing views towards education come to clash.

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Posted in Daniel Nuccio, Psychology, RandolphSterling |

Randolph Sterling Celebrates Two Years of Social Media

07.25.2011

I have been with Randolph Sterling for two years, meaning I have not only been working at Randolph Sterling for two years, but have been working in social media for two years.  As I’ve said before, I initially applied for the social media internship at Randolph Sterling looking for a way to make a little extra money in the year or two I anticipated I had before I could realistically expect to be in grad school. That said, the time for me to head off to grad is almost here, but that will by no means mean the end of my career at Randolph Sterling or in social media.

Over the last two years I have worked hard with Rich and the rest of the team to develop and implement a social media process for Randolph Sterling, and, given the ever changing nature of social media and the recurring website problems which only now seem to be under control thanks to the fact that we have finally found a developer who is not only competent and reliable, but not trying to nickel and dime us, I always seem to feel that my job has just begun, and I am in no mood to give it up now.

When I first began working at Randolph Sterling I started out simply “telling middle aged businessmen how to tweet properly,” as I would jokingly tell friends when asked what it is a social media consultant actually does. In reality I was telling a thirty-nine year old businessman how to tweet properly, while managing his Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress accounts. I had no idea what Hootsuite or Constant Contact were, I was relatively unfamiliar with YouTube and LinkedIn, although I knew that they were and knew how to use their basic features, and did not know the difference between inside sales and outside sales.

But, as time went on, I acquired a sufficient level of knowledge about the sales services and practices I was unfamiliar with, and learned about several social media tools I had no idea even existed, or only vaguely knew how to use, and eventually developed some level of proficiency in most of them.

After a few weeks I learned about the invaluable content management tool Hootsuite from a tweet from Gini Dietrich, one of the few professional social media guru’s who truly is a social media expert. After a couple of months I was asked if I would be interested in learning to use Constant Contact to send our monthly e-newsletter. The following spring Rich promoted me to the position of Director of Social Media and asked me to start producing regular blog content of my own, starting with “A Night at Marcello’s,” an article reporting on a speaking engagement Rich had in Chicago around the time, and continuing with multiple articles pertaining to social media, movies with some minimal level of relevance to the realms of business or social media, reports on social media conferences I have attended, and even few posts detailing the differences between how the business world was portrayed by the business and marketing professors I had in college and what I actually see and experience on a day to day basis.

In the summer that followed, Randolph Sterling, Inc. finally launched its new website after at least a year of preparation that probably went back even further, well before I arrived, bringing with it not only the task of learning to use a CMS, but also many unforeseen challenges that, as I previously mentioned, seem to have just now been resolved in the last month or two.

As time went on, I better developed my skills using LinkedIn and YouTube, which were weak when I started, began regularly attending social media events, many of which were/are hosted by Constant Contact and presented by Steve Robinson, and even began taking on clients of my own on the side.  Also, in recent months I have begun exploring some of the advanced features of Hootsuite and Sprout Social, which I look forward to discussing in an upcoming article.

So, with so much going on here at Randolph Sterling in the social media department, as well as with my additional clients on the side, I would hate to walk away from it all now, as I have said before, and look forward to another great year with Rich and the rest of the team.

 

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Posted in Daniel Nuccio, Events, Psychology, Social Media |

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