I recently posted a blog outlining that the Most Successful Companies Will be the Best Networked Companies and will train their Employees How to Network. The bottom line of that blog was that well networked companies will be better able to compete in the New Normal because they will be the best resourced.
I rarely hear about companies who train their employees to master LinkedIn or other social media platforms outside of the Marketing Departments. I believe that company wide networking training should be the norm today. I am always amazed how many sales people or New Business people who aren’t skilled with LinkedIn. Today you can’t afford not to.
Want more loyal customers? In today’s competitive environment it’s smart to surround your clients with multiple touch points. The more the better. Employees in every department should be LinkedIn with their counterparts at each of their clients instead of just 2-3 contact points in sales or other departments. In a slow growing economy all your clients are being targeted by your competitors so you have to be drilled down into every level of your client’s organization.
Want to recruit better people quicker? Train your employees to network and you will create a recruitment funnel.
Want your company to be more entrepreneurial? Train you employees to network and you will hear about opportunities before your competitors.
Want to solve problems quicker? Train your employees to network. Well networked people are solution centers. Networking makes your smarter and saves you time and money because well networked people are connecting to numerous people who have experience in a myriad of areas. I have always believed that it is better to go to your network to solve your problems before you go to Google.
I also believe that each organization should publish a monthly calendar of appropriate networking events that is shared with all their employees. Employees at all levels should be encouraged to attend these events on a regular basis. Your company’s employees should cover all the events. Networking is a very efficient way of keeping your company’s name out there constantly. Everybody needs to be a hunter today.
Today successful companies are networked companies.
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Hank, the problem is that too many companies believe that their staff would simply spend the time on personal networking rather than work. You then get people within the company, but outside Marketing, that don’t believe it is their job.
Spending the time with the staff to actually change the culture may mean that the project becomes expensive.
Thanks for your comment Nigel. Probably a current perception as you outlined. Hopefully it will change over time. I hear of some companies just starting to embrace the idea. Take care. Hank
This reflects exactly what my company is currently working towards: encouraging and enabling every employee, whether they’re in sales or marketing or finance, to start conversations. One obstacle we’ve faced is coming up with a way that introverted employees (myself included!!) can get involved. Hank, do you have any thoughts on that? Thanks!
Thanks for this Sara. You may enjoy this blog on Networking Tips for Those Who Hate to Network.
http://hankblank.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/more-networking-tips-for-those-who-hate-to-network/
Good post Hank. I believe that for a successful business, assuming you are supplying a quality product or service, you want everyone to be marketing and selling on your behalf.
This could be your specialised sales and marketing staff, but also your customers (through referrals and recommendations) and of course the rest of your staff.
Modern social media such as face book, twitter, linked in etc all has a part to play in this – as of course does positive word of mouth.
For my business, we have a successful scheme where we offer our customers a referral fee for recommending a new client who signs up with us. Of course, we only encourage our customers to do this if they are delighted with our service, and I very much doubt they would recommend us if they weren’t delighted with our service, but our fee is just a thank you. Of course, we encourage our customers to use these communication channels as well on our behalf. I am convinced of the benefit of using all these channels.