In this tough economy, our professional acquaintances sincerely want to help one another—more than ever! Whether your business is struggling for new business, or you are now unemployed, your professional friends (and personal friends too) really do want to help.
Simultaneously, those same individuals are making their own way during this economy. This means they are preoccupied about their own ability to survive and thrive.
Have you looked at your network and thought to yourself, “Gosh, I know so many good people. They say they want to help, but yet I don’t see them acting on their intentions.” If yes, then please understand that there is a reason for this. You need to help them to help you!
You have two options when you reach out to your network for lead-generation assistance:
1. You remind them of what you do–your value proposition, your target market (or target employers), your goals, your skill sets.
2.You tell them exactly what you’d like for them to do to help you. Example: “I know that you are on the Board of Directors of X&Z Association with Mr. ABC. I’d love the chance to work at ABC’s company and it would be very helpful to meet him in person. Since you have offered to help, I would greatly appreciate if you would forward my resume to him, copying me, which will give him the heads up that I’d like to connect. Then I’ll take it from there.”
With Option 1, you might get lucky. Someone in your network may have full clarity around what you offer, and they may have you top-of-mind during their various daily activities. If so, then yes, they may devise ways to help you. But that’s a tall order, when they have many other things on their mind, including their own livelihood.
With Option 2, you are not relying on the other person to ‘create’ or ‘design’ ways to help you. You are doing your own homework to figure out how they might truly be able to help, then you are giving them specific, likely benign steps. As a result, those people are able to help you, without a lot of extra effort. And that’s perfect! Everyone is happy. Anything that those same people are able to do beyond that point to offer additional help can be considered a wonderful icing on the cake.
Think about the last time someone asked you for help. And how you truly did want to help them, but couldn’t find the time to actually apply brainpower as to how you could help them. Option 2 is the solution; put it to work for better results!