If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard, “Your network is your net worth,” well, I’d have an ungodly amount of dimes by now.
For salespeople specifically, this aphorism should be adopted as a source of truth, a motto to live by, tattooed on their body, and printed in all training handbooks. Because as a seller, having a bigger, stronger network is linearly related to the ability to close bigger, higher quality deals, much faster.
When opportunities come from a trusted source, whether a referral or introduction, we see a significant increase in both the general ability to close the opportunity and overall deal value.
As sellers, you’re probably taking one look at the numbers above and saying, We get it, referrals and intros are the best way to start and close opportunities and our ticket to Presidents Club. Tell us how to do it already!!!.
Don’t worry, I gotchu. I’ll quickly walk you through how to build a network worthy of being deemed your “net worth”. First, let’s talk about what a network is (or you can skip to the advanced version and read the full, comprehensive GTN for Sales guide here).
The Definition of a Network (Sales Edition)
As a salesperson, your network is exactly what you think it is, this is no trick question.
In a business sense, your network is a group of interconnected people who you exchange information or develop professional relationships with. This can be anyone from coworkers to customers to partners to friends you made at that anti-conference you attended that one time in Montana (shoutout ALX squad!).
Building your network takes time and effort, but if you invest in just a few methods on a regular basis, the impact will be instrumental. You’ll be happily surprised when you wake up one day and realize how many of your connections are willing to open doors for you.
So, whether you're new in your sales role or a seasoned revenue executive, here’s how you can build your network:
Give, give, give!
To build up a network, we must first consider our sales mindset.
Sales aggression? Throw it out the window. Entitlement? Throw it out the window. Commission breath? DEFINITELY throw that one out the window.
Building a network takes time, energy, and most importantly, maintaining a mindset that puts “giving” to others first.
- Send helpful, relevant (relevancy is key) resources to people in your network
- Invite peers to events that might elevate their career
- Answer questions asked in communities or social platforms
- Proactively recommend peers for job opportunities
- Offer to help peers brainstorm or work through problems, both personal and professional
- Connect people within your own network to each other
Take it from Eric, Commsor’s Head of Sales, that giving to your network is the key to receiving:
Dedicate time each week to engaging on Linkedin.
LinkedIn is called a “networking platform” and not a “selling platform” for a reason. So use it for its purpose!
You can try:
- Commenting or liking when your ICP posts
- Send helpful resources, materials, and info (both prompted and unprompted)
- Hop on 15 minute coffee chats to truly get to know your connections
- When appropriate, make small talk and truly get to know your network (aka, use those DMs!)
- Message that one guy who you know loves basketball your March Madness predictions
Once you start to have casual conversations with people as your first touch point (rather than pitch slapping them right off the bat) and show continuous effort to know them, you’ll find it’s much easier to make asks, like for an intro to their boss, when there’s a preestablished connection.
Our Founder, Mac, purposefully asks every new connection if they want a dinosaur fact as his very first touch point.
The craziest part?
He gets about a 70% response rate and most keep the conversation going afterwards.
Many of those conversations have led to even sales opportunities and lasting friendships, all because of a silly dinosaur fact (did you know the Stegosaurus’s brain was the size of a walnut?!).
Start social selling and building an online presence.
Creating content on social media isn’t just for influencers and big names. It’s one of the most powerful tools a seller can use to build authentic connections and awareness with their buyers or general network.
Never posted before? Start by making one post a week or making three well thought out comments on other peoples posts.
Need inspiration? Here’s 15 LinkedIn post ideas shared with us from our friends at Aware:
Join a few communities, both personal and professional.
There is a community for literally every industry, job, or interest you can possibly think of. Joining a combination of personal and professional ones will ensure you expand your network quickly.
Communities have given me a chance to casually network with like-minded individuals on a regular basis. I’ve been able to book multiple meetings through connections made with other community members, whether directly with a member who happens to be Commsor’s buyer or by having the member intro me to the relevant people on their team.
Here are a few sales/revenue communities to consider joining:
Events are a goldmine, use them to your advantage!
Just like communities, events provide an opportunity to meet other professionals, share ideas, and connect over similar interests, only this time in person.
In an age where many roles are remote, people are chomping at the bit to get real-time interaction. Getting to know people in person fast tracks your ability to create genuine, long-lasting relationships that might come in handy one day.
The Commsor team attended and sponsored the Arcadia Leadership Experience in Bozeman, MT last July, which was a ‘small anti-conference conference’ where 50+ partnership leaders went glamping and talked about the future of the partner space.
Little did our team know when we signed up, that we’d be walking away with 50 new close friends that we could rely on. A Slack channel was started among the members, which is still used to this very day, and we got 17 referrals from attendees to prospects after the event.
Here are a few upcoming revenue and sales focused events you should consider attending:
- B2B on the Bay - Tampa, FL
- Arcadia Leadership Experience - Bozeman, MT
- A Night with the Dinos Ft. The Last Sprint, NY, NY
Ask for intros from current connections.
“Your network’s network is your net worth” - as once commented by Darren McKee on one of my LinkedIn posts. And he was certainly on to something.
Your connections know you best, which means they also know who would be relevant for you to connect with. Make it a habit to ask your peers, friends, customers, and colleagues who they think you should be getting to know.
After onboarding each customer at Commsor, Alyssa, our Head of Success always makes sure to ask, “Do you know any individuals or companies like yourself that you think Commsor should meet?”.
While this example is stated in a sales specific scenario, this can be repeated every time you meet someone casually in a networking context. You’ll be amazed at who your own connections will introduce you to.
Time to start building your network!
And there you have it, 6 examples of where you can start building up your network. Invest in a few, or all, of these examples, and you’ll find that getting introductions and referrals to your target accounts and customers will be easier than ever.
Never forget, sales tactics are temporary, your network is forever.
Read more about building your network here.
