Business Networking in Austin Blog

My LinkedIn Networking Philosophy

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:49:17 GMT

I'm frequently sent LinkedIn invitations by people I don't know. Generally speaking I do not accept these connections, but have in the past written a long winded response explaining why not. Frankly I'm a little tired of doing that so I thought I'd share the philosophy on my blog and just link to this in the future. Plus it might also help you clarify some of your own thinking about how you use LinkedIn.

There are two schools of thought on LinkedIn. There are LIONS or LinkedIn Open NetworkerS and then there are the rest of us. (Does that make us closed networkers?) The real debate is between quantity and quality. LIONS believe in quantity and that every connection is valuable because you just never know. I believe in quality networking and work to have some type of relationship with every person I'm connected to.

Having a relationship is a tough thing to define. Typically if my fellow networker is here in Austin I want to have had some type of face to face interaction with them. Typically I want this face to face to have been just the two of us (lunch, coffee or some other one on one encounter). If this type of connection isn't possible due to geography or some other type of circumstance I want there to have been some type of meaningful dialogue. Maybe we spent 40 minutes together on the phone or have gone back and forth a descent number of times via e-mail in an online discussion.

I try to hold to these standards because when someone uses LinkedIn the way it is intended and finds a connection to someone they'd like to meet where I am the connection, I want to be in a position to make that introduction. If I accept just anyone's connection it's very likely that I have little or no credibility with the person you'd like me to introduce you to. The only thing we share is our LinkedIn connection.

This is simply my LinkedIn networking philosophy. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it just how I play the game. I encourage you to develop your own philosophy. Take the time to learn about the rationale behind being a LION and decide which is best for you. If you choose not to be a LION this does not by any means make you a "Closed" networker. It probably just means you're more focused on real relationships which is where the real business and real opportunities will come from.

If you are reading this because you tried to connect to me and I sent you this link you are on the right track! Many who initiate blind LinkedIn connection requests have no intent in ever building any type of meaningful relationship (and would never take the time to read all of this). The fact that you've just read this shows you're clearly not one of these folks. Now that you've gotten this far please send me an e-mail or LinkedIn InMail. I'm sure we can find a way to resolve the issue with our current lack of relationship.

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram

NetworkInAustin.com

P.S. If we're not connected and we should be please send a connection request: Scott Ingram's LinkedIn Profile

Keep Yourself Out of Social Networking Trouble

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 22:55:50 GMT

As I get closer to writing my series of blog posts about social networking for the business professional based on my own recent experiments I thought you might like to read a great post by my friend Liz Handlin. She wrote a post called Social Networking for Professionals where she gives 6 tips to keep you out of trouble.

The most important thing you need to realize about social networking is that it's public. Anyone, and I mean anyone can see what you've written now and in the future. You have to consider what you're posting ALWAYS.

For example I would love to Twitter about who I'm meeting with; prospects, clients, etc. This would be a huge help to those in my network who follow me who could benefit from an introduction to some of these folks for reasons I might not have even thought about. But two things stop me from sharing this much detail. #1 the privacy of those I'm meeting with. Without their permission I'm not sure that this is appropriate. #2 If my competition were smart they would follow me, and this information would incredibly useful.

That's just one example of a present tense situation. Where it gets really tricky is considering how something you post now might create a problem 5 years from now. You just never know. I don't say this to scare you away from the great online social networking opportunities for professionals right now: LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, etc. Just tread very carefully and make sure you consider each and every action.

Now go read LIz's post, you'll thank me.

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram

NetworkInAustin.com

Preparing for NetworkInAustin.com's Relaunch!

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:51:15 GMT

I'm sure most of you have noticed that NetworkInAustin.com is not what it once was when we launched this site in early 2005. This is about to change. Stay tuned, especially around our target date of 9/1/2008.

When I originally launched NIA in April of 2005 it had nearly 100% of my attention. At roughly the same time my first daughter was conceived. Fast forward 8 months to a conversation I had with my wife. We were both running start-up businesses. They were both profitable, but not nearly profitable enough to support our growing family. Since then NIA has been on the back burner and not received very much of my attention.

I'm a little upset with myself that it's taken this long, but thanks to a great conversation with one of my business coaches, Stan Tyler, he made the solution sound all too easy. Since that conversation and another referral Stan provided we're roughly 30 days away from a complete relaunch.

There were some major flaws in my original business model (primarily in the pricing). We've found a simple solution for some of these gaps and I know you're going to be pleased.

You'll certainly find updates on this blog, but for the best source of news please subscribe to the Weekly Referral e-mail newsletter (also about to be reborn).

We're really excited about this new direction and appreciate your ongoing support.

Happy Networking!

-Scott

We'll Miss you Grandma

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:38:50 GMT

I learned this morning that my Grandma had passed on last night at the age of 92. In many ways this was a big relief. She'd been in pretty bad shape for quite a few months with a very low quality of life. So I'm glad to know she's finally in a much better place.

When I was younger my younger brother and I were fortunate in that we got to spend quite a bit of time with all of my grandparents. Both sets of grandparents lived a mile apart about 40 minutes from our home in Southern California. Unfortunately my Grandma on my Dad's side, Jane Ingram, was the last one to survive. While we're all saddened by her loss I was so lucky to have all 4 of my grandparents growing up until I was 18.

Grandma Ingram was always a lot of fun. She was the biggest spoiler of them all. I'm sure my parents loved all of the ultra sweat cereals and cookies that she would always have an unlimited supply of when we were around. There was never any doubt that she loved her Grandchildren.

She also had the biggest heart. I'm not sure that my Grandma ever missed a Sunday at church. The same church where my parents were married and she was a Deacon before her health really started to decline. Then after church she volunteered for Meals on Wheels for as long as I can remember. She never missed, and every now and then she'd bring me along. That was a gift.

Sharp and whitty were her middle names. Much earlier in her life she worked at a Women's Prison. There was an incident that she would occasionally joke about. She would say that she was very quick with the trigger, but a little slow on the draw... That was the time she shot herself in her own leg.

I would hope that she counts her son, my dad, and her grandkids as one of her greatest accomplishments. If the way that we turned out is any testament to the kind of woman she was (especially my Dad), then I know she'll go far and enjoy her new home.

We'll miss you Grandma, I love you.

-Your Loving Grandson

Use Twitter to Give More Referrals

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 05:30:27 GMT

In the last few weeks I've been engaged in my own online networking experiment (using social media, web 2.0 or whatever you want to call it). I've been a big fan of LinkedIN for a couple of years now, but until a few weeks ago hadn't made the leap to Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can expect to find a series of posts here about the results of my own experiments. I also feel pretty close to developing my own strategy for leveraging all of these tools as a professional which I'll share with you here as well.

I thought I'd start with a little bit about Twitter. My first impression of Twitter was that these quick little updates were an asinine waste of time. How could writing and following constant updates possibly be productive? I was amazed at how quickly I was turned around. I quickly realized that there's almost no better way to deepen some of your relationships. I have friends who I follow on Twitter who I see in person once or twice a week on average. I'm way more connected to them and what's going on in their lives now that I'm following them on Twitter. Again, I'll write more about this, but this benefit alone makes any and all of the effort worth it.

Even more recently I've found that you can find numerous ways to give referrals to and otherwise help those that you're following since you know what's going on with them. In a very recent example a friend and I started following each other on Twitter. I learned that he's intensively working on learning a new technology. Several days later I received an e-mail about a local conference on this very topic. I was able to forward that e-mail and within a day he was registered for the conference. How cool is that? Without Twitter I never would have known that this was even on his radar screen.

Do yourself a favor and setup an account today. You'll thank me for it.

Of course you'll want to follow me as a best practice first step. :)

www.twitter.com/scottingram

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram

NetworkInAustin.com

What are Your Referral Metrics?

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:40:54 GMT

Referrals are a tricky business, especially the receiving part. It's not always easy to control the number of referrals you receive. Yes, you can ask for them and you'll receive more, but that's a different post.

In my experience and in conversations with the top business networkers in my own network there seems to be some consensus that there is a give to receive referral ratio. It's truly going to depend on your business and how easy or difficult it is for others to refer you, but the most common ration seems to be 3:1

For every 3 referrals that you give you should receive 1 referral. This ratio is in the short term. Over time your ratio is likely to get a little better.

Again, this is an average. For some folks it might be 5:1 or 10:1, others might be really easy to refer and will see the reverse: 1:3 or 1:2.

Give some thought to what your own referral metric is. Start paying attention to it, and you might even think about starting to track it.

Now for the networking tip. The most important part of this equation is the front half of the ratio. How much are you giving? If you want to receive 2 good referrals a week wouldn't it make sense to give 6 qualified referrals so that you'll get the 2 if your ratio is 3:1?

It's much easier to control, measure and track the number of referrals you're giving. The focused networking groups I belong to are full of top notch referrers. Several of them have turned referring into a daily habbit. They set a goal of finding a way to give at least 1 good referral a day. Just being aware of this makes you think about how you can make those referrals.

You can also leverage your networking at events to accelerate your giving. Last night I attended Texchange. I met some really cool folks and because I was focused on them, and finding referral opportunities I was able to have some really neat conversations. Over the course of the night I created 6 referral opportunities. 2 I was able to make on the spot because the people were there at the event and I just made an introduction. The rest will receive virtual e-mail introductions so that they can connect with the people I think they can help or vice-versa.

What's your referral ratio? How much should you try to give in order to receive what you want?

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram

NetworkInAustin.com

Tell Your Networking Partners the Bad News

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:52:15 GMT

In my experience the biggest reason most people network is to create opportunities (If they're doing it right they're creating opportunities for themselves AND for others). Not to mention a whole slew of other positive side effects.

In this networking context there's a lot of good, but there's also some bad and some ugly. One of the toughest parts of networking is knowing how to handle bad news or negative press about someone else in your network.

This stuff can really go a couple of ways. In some cases the information will be about someone you don't know very well. In which case you probably want to take a closer look at that person and think about your future relationship. Is this person ethical? Do they come from a place of integrity or would it be better for you to distance yourself from them. Personally I've removed a couple of connections on LinkedIN after hearing very negative things about some folks who I'd met with a time or two, but didn't really have a deep relationship. I also did my due diligence and verified the negative claims before taking this action.

Other times the bad news will be about people you have a much deeper relationship with. Because of your depth of relationship hopefully you'll already know that they're one of the good guys. So what do you do when you hear nasty stuff about them? You tell them! Wouldn't you want to know if somebody was talking trash about you? Maybe a client of yours is upset with you because of an incident outside or your control or even outside of your knowledge. Wouldn't you want an opportunity to reach out to the client and fix the issue, even if it wasn't your fault. So they aren't out there telling some horror story to everyone they meet about you?

Tell your core network what you're hearing about them. Not just the bad. Tell them when you hear somebody bragging on them as well. Give them the opportunity to thank that person so they'll continue that behavior. We love it when people say great things about us!

What are people really saying about you? The only way to really know is to have a great network out there listening for you who will report back.

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram

NetworkInAustin.com