Professional networking and connections are critical elements of your business success Always look for the win-win in business referrals. Even if you aren’t initially one of the “wins”, people remember those who helped them. Honouring your network by switching ON- following up diligently when introduced- will lead to more open communication and beneficial referral networks

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Plugging in is nothing if you don’t turn the
switch ON
 Professional networking and connections are critical elements of your
business success
 Always look for the win-win in business referrals. Even if you aren’t initially
one of the “wins”, people remember those who helped them.
 Honouring your network by switching ON- following up diligently when
introduced- will lead to more open communication and beneficial referral
networks
Business referrals are your reputation
“I know someone there” may be music to your ears if you’re looking to get your foot in the door
of a new company; or checking out a prospective new employer. In today’s work world, it really
is often about who you know to get that first break in a sea of similarly qualified talent. It’s a
fact of life people make time for trusted referrals before a cold call, email, or CV.

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“But what about my merits? My education, work history and professionalism?” you may
ask. These are all critical to be sure, and combined with a strong professional network, this is
an encouraging word for you to be both be a connector and someone who readily turns on
their follow up switch when they’re referred professionally.
For years now, I have been instructing graduate and undergraduate business and, during this
time, I have been fortunate to have exceptional cohorts and find the experiences quite
rewarding. There are a few litmus tests I like to use when assessing my willingness to connect
any student or professional contact to a someone I know. They’re pretty simple and relatively
few. Actually there are only two:
1. Will this person represent me well? After all, this is my reputation I am entrusting to a
person. Professional contacts are valuable and, before I just go on and give you the keys to
open the door, I need to be relatively secure in the fact you will conduct yourself well and be a
positive reflection of me to the person I introduce you to. It’s about trust.
One recent example of this causing some stress was when I had a student look through my
Linkedin contacts and send me a list of 50 people they wanted me to introduce them to. First,
let’s get some focus here. If you’re asking for help, the “throw it against any wall and see what
sticks” approach is far from recommended. Certainly, I wasn’t about to refer anyone to 50
contacts straight away.
What made this especially delicate is the fact this person was a B- student at best. They were
clearly not focused on the course, on participating, on their assignments, on helping others in
class, and there was simply no way I was going to refer them to anyone, anytime soon. I let
them know “you’re asking me to trust you with my reputation and introduce you to these
professionals? At this time, I don’t have the confidence you would properly take care of my
reputation, sorry”. It was an honest and certainly eye opening conversation.

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2. Will this person actively follow up appropriately with intelligent communication with the
person to whom they’re referred? See above of course as to why this is important; however,
it’s a deeper issue. With all due respect to younger professionals and graduate school students
who’ve worked a bit, if you are connected to a senior executive, someone with a far more
senior role, and they make time to offer to meet you- drop everything within reason to
accommodate their availability.
Admittedly, this is harder to read. Will someone, when given the chance to meet an executive,
make every effort to make it happen? This would seem like a no- brainer right?
You are offered a chance to meet a senior executive in their office when they return from
overseas or regional business travel. You’d jump to make it happen right? Well this example
went very differently and I must thank my brother, President of an advertising agency, for his
patience.
Not too long ago, an excellent student of a respected colleague was recommended to me for
assistance in their career planning. The student came to speak with me while I was guest
lecturing at my Alma Mater. They presented themselves well, seemed focused, and asked me
for an introduction to 3 specific people I was connected to via Linkedin. “Wow” I thought,
“they have it together!” A quick check with my colleague validated their hard working nature
and industriousness. As mentioned in point 1 above, my colleague trusted this person and their
reputation to me.
As it were, one of the contacts with whom they wished to meet was my brother, who is also an
alum. Now I reserve the holy grail of referrals, my brother, for one or two people annually. Not
only does this referral carry the usual weight of professional contact, but I really don’t want to
hear how I wasted his time over Holiday dinner when I am looking to enjoy our family time.

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To his credit, my brother took time from his extremely busy schedule to make a few attempts
to connect before asking me if he could “cut them loose”, I concurred it was time to do so
because his offer to meet this senior student 3 times was met with “that’s not a convenient
time for me” FROM the student. I almost thought he was joking. Actually, after the second call
from him, I did think he was gaming me. I was shocked.
My colleague and I were both embarrassed. This student carelessly jeopardized the reputation
of their professor who in turn recommended the student to me and jeopardized my
reputation. In an attempt to curtain such behavior in the future, I made a call to the student to
let them know they would not be meeting my brother and to try and not make a habit of this
again.
The bottom lines look for the win-wins and how you can help people. And when someone
offers you help, follow up like your reputation depends on it. Because it does.
Connect; switch on; and succeed.
The article is written by Jonscott Turco for Arab Business Review
To read more thought-leadership stuff by leaders from Arab Region, please visit Arab Business Review