Tips for Telephone Networking:
Getting a memorable message across while networking by telephone is harder than in person, but it is possible. The key to success in such calls lies in capturing and sustaining the contact's interest. Your tools for accomplishing this are limited. The contact can't appreciate your effortless grace, impeccable dress, warm smile, twinkling eyes, or affirming head-and-hand gestures.
Without those supportive aids your agenda must be clearly focused and articulated and the content of your speech must be clear and concise. Furthermore, the delivery of your message must carry a lot of weight in building rapport, creating trust, establishing authority, and sustaining interest.
Other than its increased focus and abbreviated duration, telephone networking parallels face-to-face networking by requiring: decompression, a brief self-description, a job search or career change objective, targeted question and answer session, a request for names and referrals, a polite close, and a promise to follow up.
Why Are You Calling Me?
Even if you lack close personal connections for referrals, you can use other rationales to open doors, such as:
- "I'm coming home after years of working overseas."
- "I've read your book, and it transformed my life."
- "Everyone says you're the leading expert around."
- "I want to follow in your footsteps. We went to the same college or grad school."
- "We're members of the same association or organization."
- "We're peers in the same industry, even if we've never met."
When telephone networking, it's a good idea to outline your agenda in some detail before dialing. Have your self-introduction prepared and practiced, but not to the point of sounding canned and artificial. Have the general agenda and the specific sequence of issues you want to discuss written out in front of you. Understand that because a telephone networking conversation will be shorter than a personal meeting, 40 minutes on the phone is an outrageously long time. Moreover, you bear greater responsibility for steering the meeting, keeping it focused, and making smooth and crisp transitions from one subject to the next.
Don't assume that you're immediately going to start networking when you first call. When you get to the point of describing what you want from the contact, you should offer the person the choice of proceeding now or scheduling a later, specific time to conduct the conversation. For example:
"If it's not possible to get together for a brief meeting, I was hoping I might still get your advice and counsel for a few minutes on the phone. I realize that you weren't expecting my call, and I don't want to disrupt your busy schedule. If you have a few minutes now, that would be great; but if it makes more sense to arrange a time for me to call back, that's certainly fine, too. I have three or four areas I'd welcome your thoughts on, and I think we could cover all the bases in less than 15 minutes. If we would be less rushed at some other time, perhaps first thing one morning or at the end of a workday, I'll be happy to schedule a time to call back."
If the contact agrees to schedule a time, you absolutely must call precisely at that agreed-on hour. Check for any difference in time zone. If you're even five minutes late, you're likely to be dog meat. Expect people to be even more protective of their time on the phone than they are of their time spent in personal meetings. Incoming calls may be income-producing calls for them, and they will not want their phone to signal "busy" to their clients.
During the call, listen carefully for any indication that the contact doesn't understand you, has missed the point, or is irritated at something. Given the time constraints of telephone networking, there's an understandable tendency to speak rapidly and cram in as much information sharing as possible. Resist this temptation; if anything, slow your delivery down and finish your thoughts and sentences firmly. Run-on mouths suggest run-on minds, and you can't expect the same tolerance of hemming and hawing that you might get in a face-to-face meeting.
Be sure to conduct frequent reality tests: "Have I answered your question?" "Would it help if I elaborated on that a bit?" "Am I being clear?"
You won't gain the interest of contacts unless you sound truly interested in what you're trying to do. This isn't a telephone survey you're conducting; it's your only opportunity to convey a clear and attractive sense of your goals and attributes to someone you may never meet in person. Be animated without being hyper; be enthusiastic without sounding like a cheerleader or a Pollyanna.
The best way to be engaging is to be engaged in the conversation. Don't let your mind wander. If you start playing with the cat, looking at the dust balls under your desk and saying, "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh" over and over instead of concentrating on the conversation, the person on the other end of the line will know you're only going through the motions. The minute that happens, you can kiss rapport goodbye.
Long-Distance Networking:
Long-distance job searches may require some long-distance networking. The reality of both is that you can't hope to canvass the entire country. You'll have to set some geographic priorities and then target only those areas. Your targeting may include planning a trip to a distant city and orchestrating a concentrated networking blitz while you're there. The key action is scheduling your first round of networking meetings before you arrive:
"Jerry, I got your name from Allan Kahn, who has told me a good bit about how you moved out to Spokane from New York. Listen, my spouse is being transferred to Spokane and we'll be relocating there early next year. I'm coming out for a brief reconnaissance visit in August, to check out the housing situation and to see whether I can do a little networking. I'm a CPA specializing in small and family-owned businesses, and I need to try to establish a beachhead for a new practice. Is there any chance we can get together on either August 14th or 15th? I'm sorry to box you in so tight, but that's the only time I can get out to meet my contacts. I'm not asking you to lead me to new clients, but I sure could use some help in just getting oriented. I'd really appreciate it if you could squeeze me in.
A good rule of thumb, if you can afford the motel costs, is to extend your trip to twice as many days as you've scheduled for your first round of networking meetings. If you've got one full week filled with 12 to 15 meetings, that's great. Leave a second week open to try to schedule an equal number of second-tier meetings stemming from your first-week's referrals. Find a local word-processing service before you go, or take along your laptop computer, portable printer, and some stationery. It may be essential to get out some quick thank-you notes or meeting request letters, which you'll hand-deliver. Set your motel room up like a command bunker, and attack the local networking scene for all you're worth.
Be warned: The two weeks will be exhausting. Your plight will elicit the sympathy of most contacts, however, and they'll be flattered that you're abandoning whatever place you live in now to join them in their fair city. Play to the hilt your sense of community and your desire to fit into this new setting. Before your trip, contact the local chamber of commerce and get a packet of information materials. Study it. The people you meet will be pleased and more helpful if they see you've done your homework before imposing yourself on them.
When you get back, use the initial contacts you generated to follow up by phone with people you met and to do some additional telephone networking. The fact that you've been out there and learned the lay of the land will allow you to focus on these calls and display your knowledge. People will warm to you, even if they can't see you face-to-face.
