Business and Financial News

Old School Networking

During my first week as an executive search consultant in the insurance industry – more than a decade ago – I went to a conference in Arizona.  During a break, I introduced myself to the keynote speaker, Carl Van.  I told him that I had just begun my career. We spent about 20 minutes talking in the conference center.

Later, he introduced me to Phil Schreiner, editor of Claims Magazine, a National Underwriter publication and the magazine that sponsored the conference. 

A few months later, Phil suggested to Jim Jones, director of the Katie School of Insurance at Illinois State University, that I would  be a good source for an article he was writing on the recruitment and retention of insurance professionals.  After the article was published, Jim and I were asked to speak at the next national conference on the topic.  We were brought back for two more years.

At one of these conferences I met a manager from Ohio who gave my card to his vice president in Philadelphia, who in turn asked me to do some recruiting for one of his regional VPs in California.

A few years later, Jones introduced me to the VP of a company in Illinois who asked me to recruit a director. I called the Regional VP in California who had since moved to a different company.  He wound up taking the job and moving to Illinois.

I had to hammer the phone, network in person, travel, speak nationally and do all the traditional marketing to develop this high network quotient.

eSchool Networking

In late 2009, I started following a Des Moines consultant on Twitter. (Or he started following me, I don’t know which.) I saw that some of my Facebook friends were following this person, so I invited him to become Facebook friends. 

Eventually, we met at a reception. He told me that he had been reading my blog and had been to my website. He said that he had thought about calling me in the past to learn more about my business.  Naturally, I invited him to meet me for coffee.  After about a month, our schedules finally converged and we got together.

The interesting thing about that meeting compared to many “first meetings” that I had in the dark ages before social media was that we already had built some rapport. Our business conversation went from the shallow to the deep end in no time. By the time I finished my second cup of coffee we had agreed in principle to do business together.  

High Network Quotient

Using social media tools such as Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and blogs to engage your target market means creates awareness and familiarity with your personal business brand.  It means you make more warm calls – rather than cold – and reduces the time required to establish rapport.

Add some old-school engagement with the community and face-to-face networking skills with the ability to connect online and you will maximize your network quotient.

Simply put, seek to master both the Old School and the eSchool

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