| Size Matters... But So Does Quality |
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I’m certain you’ve heard that before….but have you ever taken it a step further, and thought about how well the people you know, know the people you know? In other words, what does your network look like? How interconnected is it?
Take the example of the salesperson. The classic salesman’s mantra goes like this: Leads are generated from one’s network. So, self-evidently, larger networks generate more leads, which in turn generate more sales. Yes? But there’s more to it than that, as Tuba Űstüner and David Godes, of Cass and Harvard Business Schools respectively, have shown [1].
Űstüner and Godes break the sales process down into four simple stages:
1. Identify prospects
2. Get buy-in from potential customers
3. Create solutions
4. Close the deal.
They then show us that the ideal network for each stage is very different.
At the first stage, a sparse external network – where most members are not also connected to each other – is ideal. Such a network literally covers more ground, furnishing the salesperson with new and unique information. It leads them to new fishing grounds, so to speak, and so helps them to generate leads.
In contrast, when it comes to getting buy-in from potential clients, a denser network is needed. The salesperson needs to build trust with selected contacts in the prospect company in order to convince them to either introduce them to the person who’ll make the buying decision or to spend time themselves learning about the product they’re selling. Deeper relationships are the goal.
At the next stage, that of creating solutions to satisfy the potential customer, the ideal network is a hybrid. The salesperson needs a diverse internal network, so that they can easily find the right person (or persons) to customise or tailor the product or service they’re selling to suit the customer. But those contacts also need to be connected to each other, so that they can work well together in a co-ordinated effort to come up with solutions.
Finally, to close the deal, the salesperson needs to be able to mobilise a network of past customers and external experts who are able – and willing – to reassure the client.
So getting to know lots of people, and building enough rapport to motivate them to help you just isn’t enough by itself. You also need to think about who and where those people are, and how (and if) they are connected to each other. A strategic approach is often the quickest and safest route to the finishing line.
[1] Better Sales Networks, Tuba Űstüner and David Godes. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2006. Thanks to Gerry Barrett of Cass Business School for telling us about this paper. Like everybody else, we rely on our network of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and clients to keep us ‘in the know’. |
Only Connect |
The key to effective relationships is often the fact that you have things in common and, crucially, that you’re generous with your knowledge, time or information. Take this story, for instance, told by Katherine, a student at London Business School…..
“Before going to business school, I worked in London in real estate investment management. In May 2004 I went to an industry conference in Vienna, representing my employer (a niche start-up firm), and met Angela who was a Director of Business Development for a large global firm.
We got to chatting about the Vienna Opera House and the production of Carmen I had seen there. During the conversation, I recommended easy ways to get tickets. We ran into each other again the next day – we had both left the conference early to pop into the Kandinsky exhibit across the way.
Nearly eight months later I was at a cocktail party in London hosted by the same association which had run the conference in Vienna. The start-up I was working for was failing and I was about to be made redundant. I was networking like mad, trying to speak to a lot of people about my situation. As the evening was coming to an end, I spotted Angela across the room. I went over to her, to ask how the rest of her weekend in Vienna had turned out. She immediately thanked me for the useful advice I’d given her about the Opera House and we fell into conversation. When she discovered that my company was about to fall apart, she invited me to lunch the following week. A few weeks later, she offered me a job working for her!” |
I Want Your Job |
...that was how someone introduced herself at a workshop we ran a while back.
Well, you can't have our jobs, but we're repeatedly asked whether we'll teach in India and China so now we're on the lookout for a very special person from each of those regions who can work with us to develop and co-present offerings tailored to the culture(s) of those markets.
If you're from India or China, have an MBA from a UK business school with at least a couple of years post-MBA experience, and think you might have what it takes (after some in-depth training!) to present confidently to a corporate or business school audience in your home market, we'd love to hear from you.
If you're interested (or know someone who this would suit down to the ground) please do contact Tony in complete confidence at tnewton@manadvan.com |
Soft Skills Really Do Matter |
A survey of MBA recruiters [2] found that they put communication, creativity, people skills and entrepreneurship at the top of their ‘shopping list’. But when asked about their satisfaction with MBA recruits in these same areas, the responses clearly show that there’s a lot of room for improvement in ‘people skills’ and ‘leadership’.
Although all employers of MBAs were satisfied with their recruits’ analytical and technical skills, there was a common feeling that some business schools are still not doing enough to develop the ‘people’ skills that have been shown to be so important.
Extrapolate across the market place, and its clear that if you want to become (or create) winners, you need to make sure that emotional and social intelligence skills are up to scratch.
[2] QS TopMBA.com International Recruiter Survey 2005
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2008 Open Workshops & Dates |
If you liked that, you'll like this... |
Click here to see the entire 2008 open workshop schedule.
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| Leaders: Judith Perle
or Tony Newton
Effective networking demands the application of a set of skills which can be codified and taught. Once learnt, you can apply these skills to great effect in both business and personal life. Even well-educated, confident, successful people are often not very good at making easy connections, or indeed just 'making the call'. And if you can’t make the easy connections, you're certainly going to have trouble with the ones which require more ‘front’ and persistence!
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Leaders: Siamak Bashi
and Tony Newton
Through the use of anecdote, example and interaction, the course leaders demonstrate the strategies and tactics that can help you in any negotiating situation. There is ample opportunity for ‘role play’ to try out these techniques and approaches in a safe, supportive environment. We can also discuss and help resolve any issues that you may have relating to specific negotiation situations, such as a salary discussion or contract renewal.
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| Leader: Judith Perle
With up to 85% of communication being non-verbal, how we do and say things is at least as important as the actual words we use. Whether you’re making a new contact, entering into a negotiation, establishing your position in a hierarchy or simply trying to get along better with colleagues, an appreciation of the importance of non-verbal communication is an essential element of the manager’s toolkit.
This workshop presents a range of tools and techniques for interpreting non-verbal cues, and for ensuring that the cues you give out are appropriate and really do match their intended effect. Access to these tools will enhance your influencing skills, allow you to understand what's going on behind the facade and give you an enormous advantage in 'reading' people's real intentions, motivations and concerns.
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Leaders: Tony Newton
and Judith Perle
Our 'Good On Your Feet' workshop is structured to give intensive, practical help to a small group of people and takes as its starting point the fact that any presentation - be it impromptu vote of thanks, PowerPoint presentation to colleagues or clients, or conference keynote speech - can be deconstructed into a number of identifiable elements and that individual participants will vary widely in their comfort with each of those elements.
Those component parts are individually discussed, practised and critiqued in a series of exercises (including video recording) and ultimately woven back together to ensure that by the end of the workshop, all participants feel better able to make a coherent, confident and above all, engaging presentation.
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