Success in your life -and on a professional level- is directly connected to the people that you meet and what you co-produce with them.
And I can hear a lot of people telling me now: “But, it is undeniable that some lucky people happen to be born in the right family, that provides them with the right connections to triumph on a professional level later on”.
However, bear in mind: you can always create these relationships, without the need to be born in them, and they will equally lead you to success.
So, how can you make it happen?
1. Reach out to people you admire
Be audacious, be bold.
Have the audacity to reach out to people who you admire and let them know what you appreciate about them.
Ask them questions and follow-up with them, and see how magic happens.
We all know about the power of networking, yet we still underestimate it sometimes.
In short, don’t be afraid to get in contact with people that you don’t know -or that you do know, but not as a close contact – but can help you advance in your career.
2. Build a relationship
However, as you can imagine, just reaching out to them is not enough.
As far as it’s great to show them your admiration and gratitude for their work, you still want to create a genuine relationship with them over time.
For example, you could ask this person to go for a coffee and go there prepared with smart and interesting questions for them.
People not only love being shown recognition, but also being asked about their story, their victories, the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them.
Being truly curious about their story will surely make it easier for them to become interested in you as well. Of course, show gratefulness for their time after the meeting.
3. Go one step further
But you can really go a step further and follow up with generosity. A good idea, for instance, is to ask this person that you honour if there is something that they are interested in learning further, and then do that research for them.
Note that you can even do this with a client or prospect, to deepen your relationship and trust with them.
This generosity and intimacy with them will naturally bring you closer.
Are you ready yet?
So, with this new acquired network of people around you, don’t be afraid to ask for things that will get you closer to your aim and dreams.
The worst anybody can ever say is no. Although you might receive a few negatives, you’ll be surprised by the amount of positive responses, only by being bold enough to ask.
Note, however, that your interest, kindness and applause for this network of people must be genuine and real, and never out of just self-interest.
Moreover, something that might help you along this process is to define your value and develop different “packs” of altruism about what you can do to be in service to important relationships. This will make it way easier for you to understand what you can provide to people in exchange for their help.
The bottom line
To create trust in relationships, it’s important to open relationships up through benevolence and closeness.
But to make this happen, you must be audacious: not only to reach out to people to start with, but to later ask them for help, new connections, advice, or whatever will make you advance on a professional level!
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