This is another technique I learned from Keith Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone. The idea is simple: Offer you talents and resources to people who need it… without asking for anything in return. Sometimes helping someone move over a weekend can build a relationship that creates 10 or 20 referrals over a few years.
Think of it this way: Be a good friend and you’ll find more friends.
CALL TO ACTION:
List out your talents and resources that you could lend. Here are a few things that have worked for me in the past:
Your contacts & relationships – which two people could you connect, even if you got nothing out of it?
- Your raw time — is someone moving & needing some muscle power? If you like kids, baby-sitting for a friend.family-member so they could take their significant other out for a special night might be an option. Picking someone from the airport in a pinch.
- Your skilled time — If you’ve got special talents or skills, you might be able to do a world of good for someone by either offering your time for free or a limited amount of your time for free. For example, my personal skill-set includes graphic design, marketing planning,
business management, public speaking and more. I have been able to cultivate strong relationships with many non-profit executives by offering my talents pro-bono. In exchange, these executives have been generous is ways that I initially hadn’t considered. I’ve been invited to events I normally wouldn’t have known about, gotten press tickets to conferences, been personally introduced to potential customers and more.
Gum — carry extra gum. It’s a small thing but when you’re in a small group of people at an event and you ask everyone if they’d like some gum, it gives you an opportunity to give something right of the bat. (Hope you’re getting the theme: giving is good.)
- Information — Knowing things first can be a great tool. This is similar to the lesson about educating others, but this is about the informal conversations that happen. What types of info might be useful?
Buzz words — knowing what it is and being able to explain it in terms others can easily understand while at the watercooler or conference table will earn some nice social capital.
- Competitive intelligence
- What to buy … ie. Being able to help people answer questions like: “Should I buy ____ or ____?”
- NOTE: One thing Keith Ferrazzi warns against in his book is gossip. Gossip is not social capital. Trying to pass gossip as information will lead others to loose trust in you. Just don’t do it.
Next Lesson: Help Them Look Good