The Power of Positioning Yourself
By Jill Lublin
“Network everywhere and with everyone. Don’t wait for a special occasion to enjoy the benefits of networking. You never know where you will make a connection that can change your life” — Melissa Wahl, Vice president of Development Womens Presidents’ Organization
In this article, I want to guide you on how to position yourself. I will cover some topics about: How to become an expert, declare your expertise, seminars and workshops, get published, and get creative.
Networks are built around the exchange of information and networking is information intensive. To be both successful and sustaining, networks must constantly receive an influx of new and relevant information; information that network members can take, analyze and then parcel out to their network partners who then can make the best use of it.
To efficiently utilize the stream of networking information requires knowledge, expert knowledge. First, it requires the knowledge to understand the full implications of the information received and what it means. Second, it requires knowledge about the members of your network, and their needs, capabilities, and capacities. With this knowledge, members who receive information can then analyze it, determine who can best use it, and allocate it to those network partners who can benefit from it.
Finding leads for network partners is an essential part of networking. In order to hook your partners up with the best potential matches, requires you to know what they want and need.
- Question your network partners about their interests
- Visit their places of business
- Discover what they want
- Find out what they need
- Ask how you can help
Your expertise enhances your value to your network. Each area of expertise adds special flavors that make your contributions to the network desirable and unique; they give your contributions added worth. For example, your ability to operate a home-based office may prove invaluable to a network member who just left a large corporate job to start a new business in his /her garage; your even-handedness and good judgment may help resolve troubling differences within your networking group
- Declare Your Expertise
Tell others about your expertise and why it’s so special. Find ways to promote yourself by writing articles; giving talks; giving demonstrations; starting Web sites, joining groups, and participating in conferences, workshops, and discussions. Volunteer your service to build your reputation and impress people who may be in a position to help you.
Send your articles to publications, organizations, Websites in your field or related fields, and your network. Follow up with e-mails or phone calls. Offer yourself as an expert speaker. Recite your article aloud as speech. Prepare visual aids such as slides, illustrations, and charts. Practice them with your family and friends. At the end of the articles, include your bio and state who you are, what you do, how you can be reached, and your message. Prepare a more extensive bio that can be distributed during your speaking engagements.
2. Beyond Your Level
All too frequently, the people we want to meet, those who could quickly catapult us into the upper galaxies, are beyond our reach. Not only don’t we know them, but we don’t know anyone else who can reach them. Calling them blindly without a warm introduction is futile and email seldom works. Occasionally, an email will slip through, but it’s a long, long shot.
To reach the unreachable, you must cultivate the relationship, and even that may not work. According to professional speaker and marketing consultant Ken Glickman, the best plan is to send personal letters. The chances of succeeding still remain slim, but one of your letters could touch a responsive chord and yield substantial rewards.
3. Get Yourself There
Put yourself in places and positions where the magic can occur. As Woody Allen said, “Showing up is 80 percent of life.”
“Schedule yourself to be in the right places where you can meet the targets you seek,” JeffKahn, the Chief Strategic Officer at AudioCodes, advises. “I’ve met at least a third of the people who became my good friends or people who became my business customers in the first class airline lounges or in business class plane seats. Choose the gym where you work out not just because of its equipment, but also factor in the people who you will be there that you interact with”
Get out of the office or the house and expose yourself to people and experiences that can move you in new and exciting directions. Relinquish some of the control that may keep you languishing in the same old place, repeating the same task and making the same mistakes. Expose yourself because you never can predict what might happen.
4. Get Published
To increase your credibility, your profile, and your attractiveness to networkers, get published. Being a published author gives you more than credibility, it gives you the elevated status of being an authority. Authoring a book, and to a lesser degree articles, gives you recognition as an expert.
A book is a powerful networking tool because:
- Authors are respected and sought after.
- Once your book is published, your status as an expert becomes permanent, it can never be taken away.
- The exhilaration of authorship is addictive. Once published, virtually all authors want to repeat the experience. Subsequent books reinforce their status and further their careers. Public admiration and respect are intoxicating.
- Books don’t have to be lengthy Frankly, most people never read them so they don’t know whether your book is long or short, good or bad, or in English or Mandarin. However, when they learn you’ve written a book, they’re invariably impressed and usually try to get to know you.
5. Get Creative
Find unusual ways to distinguish yourself and stand out from the crowd. Use inventive, creative approaches to show targets and potential network partners that you’re someone with flair, vision, imagination, and a great sense of humor. Think boldly and give people a laugh. Everyone loves a good laugh; it lowers their guard and makes them more receptive.
Design your business cards, brochures, literature, and Web site to attract positive attention. Examine the profile of the targets you want to reach and determine the looks and approaches they like. Identify the styles that are standard for your groups. Then build on their standards, but then play with them, take them a few steps further, and push the envelope.
Test the waters before going public. Bounce your ideas off your friends and network partners. Check their reactions and heed their feedback. It’s easy to go overboard, lose your compass, and get lost in playfulness. Always keep in mind that your objective is to attract favorable attention, not to come off as a fool or a clown.
Jill Lublin — Short Bio — (Pronounced Loob-Lynn)
Jill Lublin is an international speaker on the topics of Publicity, Networking, Kindness, and Referrals. She is the author of 4 Best Selling books including Get Noticed…Get Referrals (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Her latest book, Profit of Kindness went #1 in four categories. Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years of experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course and consults and speaks all over the world. She has spoken on many stages with luminaries such as Tony Robbins. Jill also leads an intentional kindness community. Visit publicitycrashcourse.com/freegift and jilllublin.com
