I recently received an email from Wayne doing a lot of the right things but is confused that his attempts at outgoing connections aren’t getting the results he’d like.
What would you recommend? Leave your advice in the comments below. I will respond with my ideas in Monday’s blog post:
I have a question if, after 5 or 6 attempts, I will not receive a return phone call from a potential contact on the network. My approach is as follows:
1. I call during nonworking hours (to secure voicemail) to inform the individual of my intention (evaluate some career options) and wish to expand my network with more experienced professionals through a short meeting. I also mention that they should expect a follow-up letter by post.
2. The letter (see below) will be sent 2 days before the call by regular mail, with the intention that it will arrive no later than 2 days after my first voice mail call.
3. Then I start following the letter and the first call with additional calls (I almost always receive voice messages) and ask them if they have received the letter and if it would be possible to spend a few minutes with them. If it’s a VM, I’ll leave my name and number and ask them to call back.
4. A few times when they called me back, people don’t pay attention to the networking aspect and examine me for what I’m looking for to re-engage
5. After 5 or 6 attempts using this method, I will move on to something else (if possible, by email)
I can only assume that in this process either something is wrong or I am missing something, because the activity (meetings) comes my way painfully.
Here is the letter he sends (see #2 above). This is with a nice letterhead with all the contact details:
beloved
My name is Wayne ———- and I recently left you a phone message regarding connecting with you on a professional level. I am an executive in ————— business, previously with —————-, and I evaluate career opportunities.
I am trying to expand my network and I would like to have the opportunity to meet you so that you can get to know me.
I don’t expect you to know about the job available to me, although that would be nice. It’s more about asking you, a professional to a professional, if you’d be willing to look at a list of target companies when we meet and maybe share some of your knowledge about a few of them.
My tactic is to connect with professionals in the industry to become a “top of mind”, partly in case you need industry information from me, but also to find the right ————- professionals to meet. As a result of these and other initiatives, if a career opportunity opens up in our industry in the future, I expect them to think of me first.
I would very much rather meet you in person for 20 or 30 minutes in a matter of weeks. I can suggest the following dates and times for a face-to-face meeting, but if they don’t fit your schedule, suggest alternative dates: ….. (dates and times)
