Being Invaluable is the Key to LinkedIn (Networking)

I’ve had my blog now for a number of months but I really haven’t been diligent at posting articles until mid June 09. As I have now started to promote the blog and post more great information for my readers, I have now started to get a flood of people asking me to connect because of what they’ve read in my blog.

This is not a new phenomenon for me. I experienced it early in my LinkedIn networking efforts as I started to put out a lot of quality answers in the Question and Answer forum. In fact, out of my first 1000 connections I would bet 30-40 percent were people who invited me because they were fans of my posts in the forum.

What’s the Point?

I say this to make the point that becoming “invaluable” to your fellow LinkedIners will attract lots of people and opportunity. This has been my own experience consistently for almost two years on LinkedIn.

Besides answering questions there are many other ways to become invaluable to the LinkedIn population and your network. You MUST pay attention keeping your eyes open to the opportunities that arise that allow you to provide value to others.

It helps if when you connect with someone that you find out a little about them and if possible ask them what you could do to help. Most of the time you ask this question in response to a connection, people won’t reply.

However if you pay attention when they do you can very quickly and usually easily build a valued relationship. Don’t worry that the person you build this relationship with is not a potential client. There are many other ways they may be useful in the future most of which you could never begin to predict.

Another Example

Here’s one final example of how this works and how magical it all can be

I recently answered a question and the poster asked if he could quote me in his blog. I said yes of course. After receiving the message that the quote was now in his current blog post I visited his site to read the post. Upon arriving I discovered that his site had to do with a subject one of my other connections had written a free book about.

Who would have known that the random value this fellow provided me, as I am not a potential customer, would lead him to a possible valued connection? Who would have known that agreeing to let him quote me would then enable me to do a favor for my connection hooking her up with someone that might be able to promote her free book?

The Moral

The moral of the story is, pay attention, look for ways to be of value, and you will have an abundance of opportunity in the long run.

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