Holiday Networking
Ahh, the Holidays! Everyone’s favorite season … cooking and baking holiday treats, participating in seasonal events, shopping, and wrapping presents … It’s an exhilarating and joyous time of the year. I love the family time together, which always includes cooking, and I love the gift-giving. I am much more comfortable giving gifts than receiving them.
At the same time, it can also stir up stress, especially in the workplace. Business leaders are busy completing performance reviews and other year-end activities. Then, there are the social events, office parties, and holiday celebrations to attend. Clients quietly grumble to me about the quasi-forced gaiety they’re expected to feel, particularly when there are pressing year-end requests and obligations to fulfill.
I suggest leaning into the excellent networking opportunity the Holidays offer – in so many ways, it’s the best time to reconnect with colleagues. People are relaxed and festive, feeling more friendly than usual at work. It’s an ideal moment to leverage personal connections with business associates or clients you don’t know well.
Notably, there are better times to seek out new connections than December, and “showing up” at Holiday parties doesn’t necessarily mean you’re networking. It is an excellent opportunity to reconnect with people you know and have not seen for a while, reinforcing valuable connections. I don’t plan any new business meetings after Thanksgiving. I’m not looking to expand my base; I AM looking to expand my current business.
I refer to Holiday networking as akin to shopping for a little black dress (or a good suit for men.)
On the hanger, all the garments look pretty much the same: the dress in TJ Maxx / Marshall’s looks the same as the one in Saks Fifth Avenue; the suit in Banana Republic is not any different from the one in the Neiman Marcus men’s department.
But when you’re trying on the garment in the dressing room, suddenly you look and feel like WOW! You know you’ve found the right one.
The dressing room revelation is like finding kindred spirits at a networking event – you meet and greet so many people, but you always remember the one(s) you want to return to for more discussion.
Here’s a personal and favorite networking story about someone I met through networking who has become a friend and is working with me at Slater Success.
We met at a networking group where we were both members about six years ago. The group meets regularly, and we found ourselves attending other similar events.
In the small world of NYC, we ran into each other at High Holiday synagogue services at the Javits Center!
We did the networking follow-up of having coffee and following up with more in-depth phone / personal conversations about how we can refer connections to each other.
We like each other and have kept up our contact and connections, even after my friend left NYC to become an ExPat working with his son in Latin America.
I kept the connection not because I thought we would be doing business together but because we had become friends, and I stay in touch with people I like.
This friend still lives abroad, but guess what … an opportunity opened at Slater Success, and he is now a freelancer working on the Team!
This evolution of our relationship happened quite naturally, and it feels like we’ve been working together for years, even though it’s only been a few months. He’s the type of business colleague with whom I’ll spend time this month having Holiday lunches and catching up -- people I’ve gotten to know and personally like. Yes, we spend the time reviewing our business accomplishments during the year, but we also get down to socializing and having fun with each other.
Of course, once the Holiday Season ends, the start of the new year is a natural time to resolve to follow up on all the networking connections you’ve made in December. Remember this Slater Success mantra: “The Money Is in The Follow-Up.”
Forbes offers these six tips for ways to follow up on the December connections you’ve made and boost your professional network in the New Year:
Tip #1 – Deepen existing relationships
Tip #2 – Develop a monthly networking lunch schedule to broaden your network
Tip #3 – Get more active on LinkedIn
Tip #4 – Learn something new
Tip #5 – Meet early with your boss for approval to attend conferences/training events
Tip #6 – Volunteer with professional organization conferences or serve on boards
Click here for the full article.
Slater Success wishes you all the best for a Happy Holiday and New Year! I hope you enjoy networking with clients and business friends in December 2023. Make January 2024 the time to follow up on your December networking contacts.
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