Why You Need to Build Your Network, Part 2

At the upcoming SPBT (Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers) Conference, I’ll be delivering a workshop on Building Your Own Professional Network.

In Part 1 of this brief series, we looked at the fact that personal/professional networks outlast your role in any particular company.

Here’s a second reason for you to invest focused time on getting to know new people: networks have a massive multiplying factor.

As of this writing, I am connected to 1,338 people on LinkedIn (many inside the pharma industry, and many in a vast array of other industries). Each one of those people knows 10, or 30, or 50, or 100 quality folks who are not just names on a list – they are collaborators and friends.

If I have a need for a recommendation, or am helping someone find a new job, I can not only touch those directly connected to me – they potentially allow me to touch a multitude of others. And the closer the ties you build with your own “inner circle,” the more likely it is that you will be introduced into other peoples’ inner circles.

While large networks have a powerful place as far as overall reach, it’s the smaller, high-quality networks where a lot of the referring and helping gets done. As you build human and helpful ties with others over time, you will find that every person who becomes a collaborator actually brings along a host of others. And one of those, most likely, holds the key to your next job.

The mathematicians may disagree with me, but addition=multiplication when it comes to having a great network. Do the math and let’s build together!

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Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

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Why You Need to Build Your Network, Part 1

At the upcoming SPBT (Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers) Conference, I’ll be delivering a workshop on Building Your Own Professional Network.

Why is this topic – this practice, this lifestyle – so important?

Here’s one reason – a network is more enduring than a company or a job.

We’d all like to believe that our current employer will be around forever, on a perpetual growth vector, and that unlimited opportunities will always be before us on the climb up the ladder.

I have two words for that: Santa Claus.

If I’ve seen nothing else over the last 25 years, it’s that companies rise and fall, jobs appear and disappear, and industries are disrupted at an accelerated pace. When a market dries up or a pink slip appears, who do you have to turn to?

Your network.

Many people wait until they are in trouble before suddenly scrambling to build connections (we’ve all seen that pattern on LinkedIn, right?). But that’s the wrong time. The right time to build your professional network is 5 years ago, and the second best time is right now. You want to have an opportunity network of great quality people in place long before you need them.

You need to build your network because you cannot rely on companies or markets to take care of you. People help people they know and like. And those relationships develop with conscious, pro-active effort over time. Seek out, meet with, take an interest in other people. Help them achieve their goals. You don’t even have to be an extrovert to network effectively (I’m not – my native tendency is definitely toward introversion). You just have to be intentional.

There is no Santa Claus. But you have a wide open opportunity to build rewarding, long-term relationships with people. Don’t pass it up in favor of putting milk and cookies by the fireplace.

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Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

Read Full Post »