Leveraging Your Professional Network for Organic Growth

This month I’m writing about the growth of your Thought Leadership Business.  We started out with mindset, then discussed moving from hourly to program pricing.  Next, we’ll discuss spreading the word about what you are up to!  There are so many online marketing strategies out there that are one google search away.  The area I like to focus on is leveraging your professional network for organic growth.  Absolutely apply the online marketing strategies in addition to the approach that I outline below.  I see the organic growth as a short term strategy to gain momentum while online marketing is your long term growth strategy.

I work with successful Thought Leaders who have vast professional networks!  I am continually shocked at how un-leveraged this resource is. It should be common sense, right? Target your professional contacts!  If you made a list of your top 100 contacts and I asked you if they all know what you are up to lately, what would you say?  Typically the answer is no.  There are numerous reasons why this is the case.  Many times entrepreneurs feel like they “aren’t ready” to share their offers with their network.  Perhaps the website isn’t updated, their strategy isn’t solidified or they don’t think anyone they know would buy from them.  I have news for you - PEOPLE LOVE TO HELP.  Even if your ideas and marketing aren’t packaged up with a pretty bow on top.  There is so much power in sharing what you are up to at each stage of the process, don’t wait until you feel ready.

There are a lot of reasons why an organic outreach strategy works.  The biggest one is these people already know, like and trust you.  People genuinely enjoy helping one another.  This doesn’t necessarily mean your network is going to buy from you and that is completely fine.  This could mean they help you as a thinking partner to further develop or refine your offer.  Perhaps they make an introduction to someone that is a potential client or referral partner.  That introduction might lead to another introduction and it flows from there.  Momentum builds, you get the word out and you have fun connecting with like-minded people.

This strategy works whether you are brand new to launching your business or simply moving into a new line of business that you’d like to get off the ground.  Maybe it's your new Signature Program! 

When you’re ready to utilizing your professional contacts, here are 4 quick steps to help you get started:

1. Utilize technology to jumpstart the process.  You can download your contacts from Linked In (DM me if you want a guide) or use the contacts in your email software.  To simplify things, I recommend you print your list of contacts and sit down with a highlighter as an easy first step.  Highlight people that jump out at you, use your intuition.  Who did you have a solid working relationship with (whether you’ve kept in touch or not)?

2. Draft up a simple “here’s what I’m up to” email that can be customized based on your relationship with each person (DM me if you want a template).  Get in touch with your network and see how you can mutually support one another.  Schedule virtual coffee dates, they can be 15-30 minutes to catch up and support each other.  I recommend using an online scheduler like calendly or hire the help of a Virtual Assistant.
3. Listen to what these contacts are up to, see what they need in their business.  Provide them with introductions, ideas or resources that would benefit them.  It will bring you so much joy.  You’ll want to keep going for that reason alone.  Typically, ideas, resources and business begins to come your way too.  Not necessarily directly from the people you are helping.  There is an energetic exchange of good-will that happens in a “pay it forward” kind of way.  You’ll simply attract the growth opportunities you envision for your business.

4. At the end of every conversation ask this important question: “is there anyone else you think I should talk to”?  Then follow up!  You are going to be amazed at the compound effect of this strategy.

This is not a “one and done” type of action.  Staying in touch with your community and network is really important to your business growth.  As you grow, you can automate more of this.  One of your goals can be to get most of these contacts onto your mailing list so that you can keep people updated all at once.  

The most important thing to remember is that people want to help you!  We often shy away from asking for support or sharing what we up to because we don’t want to bother people.  The thing is, these are grown adults who have boundaries.  If they don’t want to stay in touch, they won’t get back to you and you have nothing to lose.  Those aren’t your people.  Don’t let those folks (who are someone else’s people) stop you from reaching out to your network of raving fans that are genuinely interested in what you are up to!  You’ll never find the raving fans if you don’t put yourself out there and tell your network what you are doing.

Want to jumpstart this effort? Join my Free Jumpstart Your Someday When Project Accountability Challenge! Spots are filling up! Register here today!