2 Ways to Nurture Networking During the Holidays

2 Ways to Nurture Networking During the Holidays

2 Ways to Nurture Networking During the Holidays by Cynthia Greenawalt

{2:04 minutes to read} One of the most powerful ways to leverage the holidays is to look at the events on your end-of-the-year calendar and find out which ones are open to you bringing guests. Make a list of your VIPs (from current referral partners to those you would be interested in trading referrals with) — the longer the list, the better. Once your list is complete, there are two ways to go about nurturing and cultivating the garden of your relationships:

1. Compare your list with the events on your calendar that are open to invitation. See which events include a topic or theme that may resonate with one of your VIPs. Alternatively, given the kind of people and professions likely to be attending the event, look at which VIPs would find this gathering chock-full of alliance-building opportunities.

2. The other way to leverage social events during the holidays is to look at who’s hosting the event that may be an important relationship for you. Contact the host (or event sponsor) and ask if the event is open for you to bring guests. If so, who could you invite that would be a synergistic profession that could empower the host’s business? In doing this, you are putting a deposit into the person who’s hosting as well as into the guest that you’re inviting.

With that done, begin scheduling blocks of time — what I like to call “sacred gardening time— when you would send individual email invitations to each of your VIPs, at least 10 days to 2 weeks in advance. Include empowering language within the invitation to encourage attendance. Keep in mind that the invitation itself is a form of fertilizer for that relationship: even if they cannot attend, they are reminded of your genuine interest in connecting them to something that serves them. You stand out as a valuable resource, and as someone who cares about their success.

As the holidays approach, don’t assume that people are “too busy.” This is naturally a social time, and these year-end networking and social events can be a powerful way to prime the pump for a strong beginning of 2017.

Cynthia Greenawalt
Cynthia Greenawalt
954-214-2511
cynthia@seachangenetworking.com

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