David Fisher
Remember “connecting the dots” when you were a kid? Starting with a page full of random points, you ran a line from dot to dot (following the numbers, of course) and got a picture of a flower, animal, or your favorite cartoon character.
The “hidden” picture had revealed itself and you had a piece of art to hang on the refrigerator.
Good networkers approach professional relationship-building in the same way. They find ways to make connections to create something that wasn’t there before.
One of the most fulfilling parts of networking is making connections between two people who could benefit from knowing each other. When you look beyond your network as a way to solely help your career and instead see it as a way to help others achieve their professional goals, you have made critical leap.
Making this type of introduction is easy, all you have to do is send a simple email to them. In fact, it can be the same email and you can carbon copy both people. Keep it simple, short, and to the point. It should include the following:
- How you know each person
- What each person does/their job position/title
- Why you think they should connect
- Each person’s contact information
In fact, an easy way to become a master networker is to save a template in your email program’s outbox and customize it every time you want to facilitate an introduction. Here’s a sample email script:
“Hello Bill and Jane,
I wanted to send you both a quick email because I think that you could benefit from knowing each other. Bill Smith is a realtor with the top brokerage here in the area. I met him through the Chamber of Commerce here in town. Jane Johnson is a really great mortgage officer with my bank who just helped me refinance my home loan.
You can grab each other’s email from this message. Bill’s phone number is _______. Jane’s phone number is _________.
Bill, meet Jane.
Jane, this is Bill.
Good luck!
David”
After you’ve made the introduction, it’s in their hands. You can follow up if you would like, but it’s not your responsibility to nurture the relationship. You’ve done the important part by connecting them and giving them a starting point. Not only will you feel good about helping them out, they’ll both be appreciative and look for ways that they can connect you. Networking karma can be very powerful and what goes around, comes around!
Connecting the dots is one of the most satisfying parts of professional networking. Go find some to connect today!
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