​​The Basic of Professional Networking - Bukit Vista style

​​The Basics: 

​​

​​Controls

  • ​​Remember, you can manage what you control 
  • ​​If you didn’t feel like you networked well, analyze what went wrong. 
  • ​​Did you select the right audience? 
  • ​​Did you ask the right questions? 
  • ​​Did you pick the right timing? 
  • ​​Did you choose the right message? 
  • ​​Did you choose the right channel? 
  • ​​Don’t worry about how the audience reacts, that’s their business
  • ​​Your business is how you respond 
​​
​​What you control
​​What you don’t control
​​Audience selection 
​​How your audience will respond. 
​​Questions 
​​What kind of answers you’ll get. 
​​Timing
​​If the timing will be good for the audience 
​​Messaging 
​​Will your audience understand? 
​​Channel
​​If the channel is a good fit to the audience. 

​​Steps

  • ​​You will be iterating many times through this cycle, plan accordingly. 
  • ​​It’s never one networking event and then done. 
  • ​​Networking is like eating, going to parties, or falling in love. 
  • ​​One time is never enough
​​
​​Step
​​Subject
​​Why?
​​1
​​Audience
​​Select an audience that you want to connect with based on your mission.
​​2
​​Questions
​​Prepare a focused set of questions that you’d like to ask? 
  • ​​Video is easier since you can keep them by your side. 
  • ​​It’s ok to improvise along the way. 
  • ​​Drill down with a few “why” & “how” questions when you see an opportunity to learn more. 
  • ​​If you didn’t feel like you learned as much as you wanted, come back and revise your questions. 
​​3
​​Timing 
​​Find a time that works well for everyone. 
  • ​​A lot of the North America calls will either be early morning or late evening here in WITA
  • ​​European calls work better in our afternoon
  • ​​COVID-19 lockdown is a great time since nobody’s too busy to do a video-call and people welcome the invitation. 
​​4
​​Messaging
​​This is your questions list, but delivered in real time. Try the standard Persuasion & Negotiation tactics. 
  • ​​Start by building rapport and trust. 
  • ​​Find common ground. What do you share with the person you’re trying to connect to. 
  • ​​Ease into questions, but also feel generous to answer the other person’s questions as well. 
  • ​​Remain respectful and add a few dabs of your own personality, you’ll enjoy this more when you can really be yourself
​​
​​After the video-call, come back and think about how you could improve. 
  • ​​Rate the quality of the experience 
  • ​​Think about what you could improve on the next pivot 
  • ​​Audience/question/timing/messaging/channel. 
​​5
​​Channel
​​Pick the channel that makes the most sense. 
  • ​​Video-calls
  • ​​G-Hangouts is simple & easy to use
  • ​​Whereby is the easiest to use 
  • ​​Zoom is good - very popular worldwide, but might need some setup work.