Do you SNAP?🫰

Over the last couple months, I’ve set out to demystify what it looks like to level up your networking: to go on the strategic offensive in driving towards your business goals. To stop holding your relationships in your head and to get them down on paper. To stop accepting every invitation and to understand why it’s ok to be selective.

1️⃣ To kick it all off, I told you that if you’re already networking, but don’t feel good about what you’re doing, what you need to do is step back and figure out where to truly be spending your time.

The power of our Networking OS™ lies in the mindset shift it enables: that it's okay to have business goals and to meet people aligned with those goals—that's what networking is! That’s why we started by giving you permission to say “no.”

2️⃣ We followed that personal mindset shift with a paradigm shift: understanding executive relationships as a new business growth channel for a company. Few, if any, companies are thinking about their C-suite’s networks in this way: as a massive channel to un-tap through dedicated oversight, a custom-built system, strategy, and consistency.

3️⃣ Then, it was time to teach you how to start tending to your network in a way that top performers do. This goes way beyond the Contacts app in your phone, that spreadsheet you've been keeping, or that LinkedIn account you think you know you can easily search through even though you can't (you know it’s a pain!).

I constantly have people tell me, “I totally agree with everything you’re saying, but when I sit down, I go blank, and don't really know what to do.”

4️⃣ That’s why I used an action-packed week of my own as an opportunity to give you a look under the hood and see how a Network Management System (NMS) actually works in real life.

5️⃣ Finally, I called out where and why people get hung up when trying to leverage technology in their relationship management. Tech tools are great, but they can't be your silver bullet.

In practice, all these lessons are the initial fuel that gets things off the ground for my clients. The ultimate result is a Strategic Networking Action Plan (SNAP)🫰 based on a network analysis, individual business goals, and all five pillars of the Networking OS™.

It’s an individual prescription of the most efficient and effective consistent habits to put into place to reach those business goals. Once we have the SNAP and the technology set up to track, manage and grow the network, a client’s networking immediately flips from reactive to proactive. 🔥

When it comes to networking, I can’t stress enough the importance of having a plan.

Most people get so distracted by things that come their way. They think that they're doing the right thing by saying, “Sure, I’ll just go to that event / Sure I’ll accept that meeting.” Instead, they end up overwhelmed, burnt out, and further away from their true objectives.

A plan helps break that habit. It makes crystal clear the things that you actually need to be doing, instead of accepting that stray invite.

I’ll acknowledge that maybe the “plan” itself is the thing that sounds overwhelming to you. As a reminder, for some people, that plan is simply meeting with one or two people a week.

For example, one client’s plan is to have breakfast or dinner once a week with someone that he reaches out to who he’s identified as a potential buyer. For him, this is an existing connection. He reaches out and says, “Hey, I'm regularly meeting with people in our industry just to discuss what they're seeing, and I’d love to take you to breakfast/dinner and get your perspective.” (Ideally, there’s a LinkedIn post involved afterwards.)

In the beginning, when initially building momentum, the goal is just getting those slots filled.

These first few months give you the fuel that starts powering the flywheel ⛽: you now have an arsenal of insider insights that you can mention in future outreach, use for LinkedIn posts, etc. to boost your credibility and reputation.

Now that you've met with eight or 10 people, you could potentially gather all of those people for a lunch or dinner and now, voila, you're community building. Now you’re known as a connector. 🌐

You're staying top-of-mind with your contacts because you're reaching out to the right people in your network, you're posting about your work/methods, and you’re demonstrating your expertise. 🏆

Now imagine what that’d look like if you stayed consistent with this plan for six months! 12 months! 💥📈

👉 A year into your SNAP, you’ll have potentially 52 people that you've engaged with once a week, a bigger stronger network who you can tap into to ask who else you should engage with.

In closing, the outcomes of a Strategic Networking Action Plan are:

• 🧲 A flywheel where you end up attracting the right people directly to you.

• 🥇 Efficiency with your time: you're spending less time networking, but with the right people, in a more effective way.

• 🎯 With 12 months of consistency, I guarantee you will reach your business goals. (I know consistency can be challenging — you’re human! That's why we always work with our clients all the way through to implementation to ensure success.)

Final opportunity: announcing a limited offer 🔥

If you've been curious about working together but aren't in a position to commit to a full Networking OS™ engagement — this is for you.

I have just 1 spot left available for an executive interested in a focused, high-impact version of the work I do at the start of every engagement: a custom half-day relationship strategy session, backed by a full week of network analysis before we ever sit down.

If you’re ready to network more efficiently, feel less overwhelmed by a busy schedule of ‘meeting with people’ and yet get much better outcomes from every interaction you choose to have—just reply back to me.

Nicole

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