EMBAs: Seven Important People for Your Network

Recruiters. Job-placement counselors. Search executives - they are like gatekeepers. Instead of answering to one executive, the really successful ones answer to hundreds of executives in the field in which they recruit. Headhunters are professional matchmakers, earning their wage by introducing job candidates to companies that are hiring.

Can anyone contact a headhunter? To be honest, headhunters prefer to be the one contacting you. But if you’re careful not to sell yourself, and instead offer them access to your network, they’ll be receptive.

Well-informed, persuasive, and self-confident, lobbyists are impressive networkers. By virtue of their job, they are intimately familiar with the ways of large organizations and how local and national government work. They are almost uniformly passionate people, whose goal is to sway politicians to vote on legislation in a way that favours the interest(s) they represent.

How do they work? Lobbyists will often host cocktail parties and dinner get-togethers, allowing them to interact with politicians—and their opponents—in a casual atmosphere. Their more grassroots efforts involve long hours spent on the phone and in writing letters, trying to rouse the community to get involved behind an issue. All of which makes them a rather easy group to please - offer to hold an event for them, volunteer your services, refer other volunteers to their cause, and introduce them to potential clients.

“Follow the money” are words fundraisers live by. They know where it is, what it will take to get it, and most importantly, who is most likely to give it away. As a result, fundraisers, whether they work for a political organization, university, or nonprofit group, tend to know absolutely everybody.

PR people spend their whole day calling, cajoling, pressuring, and begging journalists to cover their clients. The relationship between media and PR is an uneasy one, but at the end of the day, necessity brings them together like long-lost cousins. A good friend who works in PR can be your entrée into the world of media and, sometimes, celebrity.

Politicians at every level are inveterate networkers. They have to be. They shake hands, kiss babies, give speeches, and go to dinners, all in the name of gaining the trust of enough people to get elected. The stature of politicians is derived from their political power rather than their wealth. Anything you can do to help them gain power with voters, or exercise power in office, will go a long way to ensuring you a place in their inner circle.

Journalists are powerful (the right exposure can make a company or turn a nobody into a somebody), needy (they’re always looking for a story), and relatively unknown (few have achieved enough celebrity to make them inaccessible).

These are seven different professions tailor-made for superconnectors. Reach out to some. And there are others—lawyers, brokers, etc. Become a part of their network and have them become a part of yours. Seek out ideas from people you don’t ordinarily talk to who inhabit professional worlds you don’t ordinarily travel in.

In one word: Connect. In four better words: Connect with the connectors.

Keith Ferrazzi, No.1 NY Times bestselling author of Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back CEO / Chairman Ferrazzi Greenlight / Relationship Master’s Academy

Keith Ferrazzi is the Founder and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. He provides market leaders with strategic consulting and training services to increase company sales and enhance team performance.

Ferrazzi and his associates are the world’s leading experts in the relational and collaborative sciences. Their research has proven the singular predictive importance of relationships to business success (sales, team performance, and individual career advancement). Their applied work, with thousands of the most respected organizations, has established clear methodologies for accelerating such relationship development.

A frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC, Ferrazzi has authored numerous articles for leading business and consumer publications, including Forbes, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and Reader’s Digest.

Ferrazzi was previously chief marketing officer and head of sales at Starwood Hotels, where he oversaw marketing activities for global brands including Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, and W Hotels. He also served as chief marketing officer for Deloitte Consulting, a leading global management consulting firm, where he developed and managed the industry’s first globally-integrated marketing organization.
Keith can be found online at www.KeithFerrazzi.com or www.RelationshipMastersAcademy.com