Networking For Sales

We’ve all been to a networking event, conference happy hour, or meetup with that overly “salesy” networker — the one pushing business cards into everyone’s hand or looking over your shoulder as soon as he realizes you’re not a prospect. Or, if you’re in sales, maybe you have unknowingly found yourself at one of those sales networking groups where everyone is expected to trade leads.

If you’re like me, all of these are awkward exchanges.

Since the launch of Friend of a Friend, I’ve received dozens of questions about how to put the lessons of network science into practice specifically for sales professionals. It’s great that we’re all connected by six degrees of separation, or that millions of potential new connections are just one degree (one friend of a friend) away…but what if the goal is to navigate that network to find customers you can help?

There are ways to find potential prospects and clients that respect how networks actually work.

One of the easiest ways to get started is to explore the fringes of your network. I often use the question

Who do you know in __________?

With __________ being the company, industry, or geography in which you’re trying to get connected.

But this question carries a problem for sales representatives. People don’t know what…