Most people don’t sit down at a table with a pad and make a list of the people they know. But that’s precisely what superconnector Steve Fretzin, a leading legal business development consultant, does with his clients, and the experience is eye-opening.
Even at the beginning of our careers, most of us know more people than we think we do. But when we sit down to “network,” we draw a blank. Superconnectors avoid this problem by making a record of who they know and keeping it fresh.
Who Got Me Here
Here are some valuable life lessons we learned from our guests this season.
Advice on how to approach job searches and organizing your network
Every job search starts with a list.
You want to catalog everyone you know, and everyone who could be helpful.
A Google Sheet is a good place to start. But depending on how big your list is, it can be a lot of work to maintain.
There are tools like CTD to connect your LinkedIn and email accounts. It automatically uses AI to identify your strong, familiar, and weak relationships. People are automatically organized with their current role, company, contact info, and last activity.
You can add notes on your people highlighting their interests, family members, hometown, and other details.
Once you have your people, you'll want to organize them into lists — former colleagues, CEOs, investors, recruiters, champions, friends & family, etc.
The best connections come from many different places, so organizing your people, and being able to cast a wide net is helpful.
Next, you'll also want to create a list of companies—cool companies, companies I'm talking to, companies I've interviewed with. Etc.
You'll want to expand this pool of companies. One way to do that is to look at all the people you respect. Where are your old coworkers working now? Where are your friends and acquaintances working? With these companies, you've got validation, someone to go to for insight into the company, and may make a recommendation.
You'll also want to look for lists. Fastest growing companies, best places to work, etc. See whom you know at those companies, and reach out.
Many people think about their network when they are on a job search. But your network should be an evergreen asset that you nurture and grow.
As Nick Mehta, the CEO of Gainsight, said, "The worst time to network is when you're on a job hunt. The best time to network is always."
You want your relationship bank where you've got all your people perfectly organized. Stay in touch with the people that matter to you and find opportunities to reach out, even when you don't need anything. When it comes time to activate your network, you'll have people who can help.
Connect your LinkedIn, your personal email, and your work email.
Connect networks with friends, coworkers, customers, and former colleagues.
1M potential contacts = roughly 500 connectors.
Superconnectors are really important. You want to add people with relevant networks, clout, and aligned incentives.
Building a network with 1M potential contacts is absolutely within your reach.
Putting It Into Practice
Over the next week, put 1-2 of these tactics into practice. In the coaching notes document, write down what you learned from the experience.
Build a people database – Maintain a list of contacts and categorize them by relationship strength so it's easy to track who you know best. The simplest way to get started is to sit down with a pad or spreadsheet and start brainstorming names. (Or use Connect The Dots to compile, sort, and update your contacts list automatically for free.)
Make it easy to break down the list– Develop a consistent set of attributes you want to track across all your contacts based on how you're most likely to use your network. Example attributes include the context for how you know them, their industry, contact information, their interests, etc.
Keep it fresh- Regularly update your lists so you have a single, reliable system to record your relationships that you can easily reference anytime you need it and quickly refresh yourself on someone you know.
