I sat down with James Swanwick, cohost of ESPN Sportscenter Australia, where I asked him about his method of networking. I first met James in Colombia, where he emailed asking to meet for coffee. I have a lot of meetings with readers of mine, and I found James very interesting and friendly—he asked about me for 10-15 minutes, before ever talking about his own projects.
So when I asked him what he was working on, it blew me away. He is the cohost of ESPN sportscenter, and he spent years working as a celebrity journalist, interviewing people like Cindy Crawford, Joaquin Phoenix, and the Olsen Twins.
James’s method of networking is awesome—the day after we met, he sent me SIX emails with amazing content in all of them. Check out the video to learn exactly how James meets his heroes, adds value to their lives, and connects with the people he wants to meet.
* James first looks for mutual friends. Can someone send a co-introduction?
* If there is no mutual friend, attempt to make mutual friends. Or, have a good reason to meet them.
* At some point, you just have to send an email or make the phone call—don’t be afraid
Step Two – Interacting at the meeting
* Once you’re there, you have to make sure the meeting goes well
* James spends the first 10-15 minutes only talking about the other person. He listens, asks questions, and learns from them, never talking about himself.
* After a while, the person will naturally start asking about his business. Only then will he bring up his stuff.
* He spends the majority of his time asking how HE can help the person. Who can he connect his hero with? How can he add value?
* Everything he says he will send/do, he makes sure to write it down, so he will actually do it.
Step Three – The Followup
* The followup is HUGE. If you don’t followup, you’ve wasted the meeting.
*** James’s followup is intense—he sent me 6 emails the day after. One email was a followup to all the topics we had talked about that day. The other 5 emails were summaries of books that he thought would benefit me. He took the time to take notes, type the books up, and send them over. This left a HUGE impression on me.
* Continue to stay in contact, and continue to add value.
Following up with a PDF that summarizes the best parts of some relevant books you have just read is probably the best idea I have heard for continuing to provide value to that new connection. I am going to start doing this immediately.
Thank you so much for this video. I find myself at this point at the bottom of the entrepreneurial manic-depression curve (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-entrepreneurial-manic-depression-making-the-rollercoaster-work-for-you/) and so I’m scouring for some words of encouragement. I’m looking for mentors and importantly I need to start generating revenue or I’ll have to get a job! This video really helps me get out of this fear and scarcity mentality and on to abundance. Of course I have stuff to share! And it gave me the idea of syndicating audiobooks – because much more than reading, I love listening to audiobooks. And so a great networking tool I can use is create a podcast in which I syndicate audiobooks or even books I’ve read! This is awesome, thanks.
Another great interview. I’ve come to learn more and more that you have to really do everything you can to provide some value to others when meeting, especially for a networking or mentoring situation. The funny part is that it really doesn’t take that much more effort, but absolutely sets you a step above the rest when it happens.
Hey great post, I also met James when I was in Colombia, real cool and down to earth guy, too bad I couldn’t hook up with him when I was in NY but im sure i will see him again when he comes to Medellin again. What about you Maneesh, when are you coming to Medellin again?
I studied at Stanford, traveled the world
for 4 years, learned 5 languages,
founded an NGO in India, became a
famous DJ in Berlin, and want to show
you how to build a digital nomad
lifestyle.
{ 5 comments… }
Following up with a PDF that summarizes the best parts of some relevant books you have just read is probably the best idea I have heard for continuing to provide value to that new connection. I am going to start doing this immediately.
Maneesh, thank you for this post!
Thank you so much for this video. I find myself at this point at the bottom of the entrepreneurial manic-depression curve (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-entrepreneurial-manic-depression-making-the-rollercoaster-work-for-you/) and so I’m scouring for some words of encouragement. I’m looking for mentors and importantly I need to start generating revenue or I’ll have to get a job! This video really helps me get out of this fear and scarcity mentality and on to abundance. Of course I have stuff to share! And it gave me the idea of syndicating audiobooks – because much more than reading, I love listening to audiobooks. And so a great networking tool I can use is create a podcast in which I syndicate audiobooks or even books I’ve read! This is awesome, thanks.
Great work much appreciated
Another great interview. I’ve come to learn more and more that you have to really do everything you can to provide some value to others when meeting, especially for a networking or mentoring situation. The funny part is that it really doesn’t take that much more effort, but absolutely sets you a step above the rest when it happens.
Hey great post, I also met James when I was in Colombia, real cool and down to earth guy, too bad I couldn’t hook up with him when I was in NY but im sure i will see him again when he comes to Medellin again. What about you Maneesh, when are you coming to Medellin again?
{ 1 trackback }