Business As Usual in this Recession?

I certainly hope that there are not many managers or business owners thinking "business as usual." In my regular forays into the market to assess changing conditions so I can better advise my clients on strategies, I see all manner of companies reacting to the downturn. That is the good news.

The bad news is that most are scaling back business as usual...but still doing business as usual.

The winners in this extended downturn will be those companies that completely rethink their business. Completely!!

Take the retail industry as one example (I have written about this industry in an earlier post on the impact of the recession on retailing). Retailers are scrambling to cut, cut, cut. But, what I am not seeing as much of is the complete rethinking of business models. Store locations, store size, store inventory levels and a host of other strategic issues need to be rethought. And quickly! Then there needs to be detailed planning as to how one transitions from today's model to the model of tomorrow. Quickly!

Business as usual, scaled back, is not what the winners will be doing.

Not at the business level or at the individual level.

Is your business or your employer changing to reflect the changing times that show every sign of being with us for an extended period? If not, what are you doing to get the powers-to-be to see the light?

These are truly times of wonderful opportunity for those with the vision to see things as they need to be in a changed world, the courage and skill to get constituencies to the right place, and the determination to make change happen. Quickly! But, thoughtfully!!

Building a Network BEFORE You Need One

I haven't done a survey on the subject (or read one done by anyone else), but my experience is that the vast majority of people pay little heed to their network until they need one.

Like I expect you are, I am getting an increased number of contacts from people I worked with years ago and haven't heard from since then. Now because I believe that those of who are employed need to try to do what we can to help those who are not, I respond to these contacts. But expecting people who you haven't talked to in 20+ years to do wonders for you is far from an ideal situation.

Having an effective network is like having money in a bank. You need to put "currency" in your network bank in the good times so that you have "currency" to withdraw in the tough times. The currency of networking is the good deeds you have done for others.

One of my mentors, the wonderful Zig Ziglar, taught me many years ago that:

You can get whatever you want in life, if you will help enough others get what they want.

Want to have support if you lose your job, or your business fails, then make your deposits starting TODAY! Give and you will be in a position to get.

It is never too late to start saving, and it is never too late to start giving.

In the last week, what have you done for contacts outside your immediate family to help them deal with these tough times?

Effective Networking Techniques

You can see light bulbs going off all across the country. People are waking up to the fact that they need to have an effective network to prosper in these tough times.

Unfortunately, so many people are clueless as to effective networking. It is one of those important life skills that, regretfully, are not taught in school or college.

Fortunately,

effective networking is a skill and, as such, can be taught.

(I have been teaching this skill to high-end professionals for some time).

Rather than pontificate about my own beliefs about effective networking let me recommend three of the best books I have ever read on the subject. All three are first rate. Before you invest another hour on networking, I strongly recommend that you read one of these three books. The two hour investment in reading through any one of the books will pay huge dividends.

My very favorite book on networking is Click, Ten Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationships by George Fraser. George does a great job of explaining the philosophy of "giving" that is the foundation for success in networking.

A close second is The 29% Solution, 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies by Ivan Misner. This book is solid on the philosophy and very strong on the action steps needed to build a powerful network.

I hate to rank one of the three as "only" my third favorite as Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections is well done, as are all of Jeff's books. (I think his best ever is his latest, Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Teal Book of Trust.)

No matter how badly you believe that you need to get networking immediately, please take the time to read one of these three books before you go off building a network like an amateur. Better yet, don't just read one of the books, implement the strategies! Become a master networker!! And, not just until you get a job. Power networking is all about being a giver, and that is something you can be with or without a job.

Many, many years ago, one of my mentors, Zig Ziglar, drilled into my mind

"you can get whatever you want in life if you will help enough others get what they want."

Commit, today, to live this philosophy for the rest of your life and you will prosper, no matter how difficult the times.

Coming Next: Building a Network Before You Need One, the third in this three part series on networking.

Networking for Jobs

I expect that everyone reading this blog has noticed an increase in the networking efforts of current friends. This most often manifests through requests for connecting on Facebook or LinkedIn. And, it is not just current friends requesting to link; I am hearing from friends that I have been out-of-touch with for more than twenty five years (that is nice benefit of this malaise).

The reason for the sudden interest in networking is obvious. Networking has long been championed as one of the best ways, if not the best way, to find a new job.

The question is whether traditional networking will work equally effectively in this downturn.

I think not. But, what do I know in a world where so many of the traditional rules are changing so quickly.

Networking made lots of sense to me when there are jobs available and the person looking for a job networked to find the proverbial "needle in the haystack." But, today, jobs are so scarce that networking to find a job is not likely to be as effective as in other times.

If I was without a job, I would network effectively, but I would couple that with an aggressive effort to convince an owner or manager that I could do a given job better than the incumbent. Ouch. Not the nicest of thoughts, in some ways. But, hasn't almost every job most of ever gotten been a matter of convincing someone we would to do a better job than the incumbent.

It is in targeting taking a job away that networking can be very powerful method of succeeding with this approach. Friends are generally willing to help when we ask them for something very specific. Merely asking friends to let you know if they see anything for you underutilizes your network.

Ultimately, the willingness of your network to help you...whether to find a job or to help you in some way to unseat an incumbent...is a function of the quality of your network.

I see so many people thinking that the name of the game is to build the biggest Rolodex, or the greatest number of contacts on LinkedIn. The secret of the best networkers has long been quality over quantity.

Coming Next: Building an Effective Network, the second in this three part series on networking.