1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 68 Network management: good contacts are managed (1)
[-]. The main points of expanding contacts

542. Possess self-confidence and communication skills

In fact, everyone has a way of accumulating contacts.But how do you effectively expand your network?There are many skills to expand contacts, but the premise is that a person must first have "confidence and communication skills" before appearing natural and not embarrassing himself.

In terms of self-confidence, "How big is your comfort zone (how comfortable you feel in different situations)?"

A person without self-confidence has a small comfort zone and is always afraid of being rejected. Therefore, he is unwilling to take the initiative to go out and communicate with people, let alone expand his network.

For example, at a cocktail party or a wedding banquet, Westerners will have something to eat and arrive early before departure.Because, that is their chance to meet more strangers.However, in the Chinese society, everyone is a little shy about such occasions. Not only will they be late, but they will also try their best to talk to people they know, and even good friends make an appointment to sit at a table to avoid meeting strangers.Therefore, "Although many opportunities are around you, we always let them go for nothing.

The second is communication skills. "The so-called communication skills are actually the ability to understand others, including understanding other people's needs, desires, abilities and motivations, and giving appropriate responses."

543. Listening is the best magic weapon to understand others
Hu Xueyan, a "red-top businessman" in the late Qing Dynasty, was a master of communication.In fact, Hu Xueyan's skills are also very simple. Hu Xueyan can speak, and he is more obedient. No matter how boring the person's words are, he can be serious and keep his eyes on him, as if he is very interested in what he hears.At the same time, he is really listening, adding one or two words at a critical moment, and extending one or two meanings, so that those who talk endlessly have the quickness of their hearts, and naturally feel that they have become friends by speculation."

In addition to listening, timely praise is also a good way to communicate.Carnegie, the "Steel King" of the United States, paid an annual salary of 100 million US dollars in [-] to hire a manager Xia Bu.When many reporters visited Carnegie, they asked: "Why him?" Carnegie said, "Because he can praise others the most, which is also his most valuable skill." Even, Carnegie wrote his own epitaph like this Of: Here lies a man who knows how to make people smarter than himself happier.

Shi Chongtang, chairman of ASUS, took two or three courses at the Carnegie Training Institute at his own expense when he was working at Acer Technology. At that time, he once said: "What I admire most about foreign bosses is that they are very good at complimenting others."

As a businessman, only by expanding your network can you get more opportunities.

544. Set goals and work tirelessly

The most basic principle of building a network of contacts is: don't lose touch with people, and don't wait until you are in trouble to think of others.A network is like a knife, it will not rust if it is often sharpened and used frequently.If you have not contacted for more than half a year, you may have lost this friend.

In addition, set flexible goals and try to make 5-10 phone calls a day. Not only should you pay attention to expanding your "network range", but also maintain old friendships.If you make 10 calls a day, there will be 50 calls in a week, and 200 calls in a month.On average, you probably add a dozen or so "good people" to your network every month.

545. Don’t give up on every goal

Just because busy people are hard to find doesn't mean they're absolutely unreachable.Don't waste time calling them at work when they're in a meeting, on the phone, or running errands.

Experts who are good at using the time to "pull relationships" believe that six or seven o'clock in the evening is the "golden hour" to contact these busy people.The secretaries, assistants, etc. have probably all left, and only some workaholics are still reluctant to leave. They hope that their "hard work" can impress the boss deeply.Now is the most appropriate time to contact these "nobles".

In short, be optimistic, and don't think that people with high positions and powers are unattainable figures.With the knack and timing, everyone can be reached.In some units, almost everyone with ability and status is protected by barriers. If you can break through these barriers, the rest will not be difficult.

Every business has doormen, try to get close to them, develop some kind of "relationship" with them, and they can tell you the secret passage to the boss's office.If you provoke them, it will only make you unable to eat and go around; in this case, you must be flexible and turn your enemies into friends, so that it will be smooth sailing in the future.

546. Carefully record the progress of contacts

You can record the relevant information of interpersonal communication for decades like a diary, which may not be easy to do; however, if you have perseverance and perseverance, you will definitely benefit a lot.If you are serious about increasing your network, you must know a lot of people.To track results and identify the real "key players," try documenting the circumstances of each contact.Write it down while the memory is still fresh. If you wait until later to make up the memory, the effect will be greatly reduced.

The key points that can be recorded include: name, address, phone number, the other party's expertise and hobbies, your views, and future contact methods.

If you want to expand your network, you must work hard.But it was worth it to meet so many great people.Once you get used to it, you will no longer feel the pain of expanding your network of contacts, but will feel excited and stimulated.

547. Be Honest

The fact that running a business is running people's hearts has been confirmed by many people.What is the goal of managing people's hearts?You need to be clear on this point.

People's hearts are a "double-edged sword". If you manage well, you will achieve the desired goal, but if you manage poorly, you will hurt yourself.Tao Zhugong told his son that when he saw Duke Zhuang, he would send the gift money and all the guests were up to him, but his son, who didn't understand the mystery at all, went to say goodbye.On the occasion of the amnesty, asking for the dowry back stripped away the reputation of Duke Zhuang, who used etiquette as a carrier of righteousness, so that Duke Zhuang, who wanted to protect his own face, had to tell the story of Tao Zhugong's family for the crime of bribery.In the end, the original plan was completely broken, and it backfired, leading to tragedy.

The most important thing in managing people's hearts is to be honest, in exchange for the trust and goodwill of the other party, so as to help each other.The eldest son, who didn't understand his father's purpose in arranging to meet Duke Zhuang, took back the "trust" his father had given to Duke Zhuang while asking for the dowry, which completely shattered the integrity of his father's arrangement.

548. Honesty Brings Greater Benefits
Although there is a saying in the business world that "no business, no fraud", not everyone operates by deception.In fact, those who can make a big business understand the value of honesty better.

Yoshio Shimamura was originally an ordinary businessman doing small-scale wholesale business.

According to his observation, if he can do the hemp rope business, he will get rich quickly, so he decided to start the hemp rope wholesale business.He first bought hemp rope from a manufacturer that produced hemp rope, and the purchase price of each hemp rope was [-] cents, and he sold it to factories and retailers around Tokyo at a price of [-] cents per hemp rope. Didn't make a profit, and lost a lot of money.A year later, everyone knew that there was a businessman who "made a loss-making business", and this person was Yoshio Shimamura, so the order list flew into Shimamura's hands like a snowflake.

The clever Dao Cun found a manufacturer of hemp rope and said: "In the past year, I bought a lot of hemp rope from your factory, and the sales have been good, but I sold it at the purchase price. I lost money." A lot of money, and if I keep doing this, I'll be broke in a matter of days.

After seeing the invoice issued by Shimamura, the factory was sure to sell at the original price. Considering that there are many customers ordering from Shimamura, they decided to give up five cents and agreed to sell the hemp rope at [-] cents per piece. Sold to Shimamura.

Shimamura came to his client again and said honestly: "I used to sell hemp rope at the original price in order to expand my influence. Now I have almost lost all my money. If this continues, I will close my business." It’s closed down. I just came back from the hemp rope factory, and they decided to give me five cents for each hemp rope, can you discuss it and give me a little more.”

The customers read the purchase order and knew that Shimamura was telling the truth, so they decided to add [-] cents to each hemp rope and buy Shimamura's hemp rope at a price of [-] cents each.

Because of Shimamura's honesty, he always told the manufacturers and customers clearly how much money he made in the process, which won people's trust and made the business more prosperous.

On the other hand, would you rather do business with an honest person or with a treacherous one?The results speak for themselves.When everyone is willing to do business with an honest man, will he have fewer customers?

549. Keeping Faithful in Difficult Times is More Popular

As the saying goes: "It is not difficult for one person to do good deeds, what is difficult is to do good deeds all his life and not do bad deeds."In the same way, it is not difficult for a person to be creditable for a moment, but it is difficult to be creditable consistently, especially when he is in a difficult situation, which is the key to test whether he is creditable.

A person's credit depends not only on his trustworthiness in the operation of a specific business, but also on his consistent reputation.The credibility image of a businessman is established by his consistent trustworthiness.Moreover, it is difficult to establish a credit image, but it is easy to destroy it. A single credit crisis is enough to completely collapse the credit image that has been built with a lifetime of hard work.This is something you have to pay attention to all the time.

550. Extend Your Hand to the Frustrated

People often say: "Rely on your parents at home, and rely on your friends when you go out." It is not wrong at all.The friends you make have an absolute influence on your success.

Michael Jordan, the greatest contemporary basketball superstar, once said: "I don't believe that passiveness will pay off. Everything must be proactive." However, more than 85% of people are passive. If you can take the initiative, You may have the whole situation in your hands.All experience will tell everyone: "Constantly take the initiative to attack." Because only by attacking, will there be a chance of success. If you hide at home all day and do not go out, your chances will definitely be much reduced compared to others.

When we meet a frustrated person, we can give him some intellectual inspiration to help him get out of the predicament as soon as possible; when we see an accomplished person, we can ask him for his successful experience.

Let’s start with the friends around us and see which friends need your help. We must take the initiative to attack. I believe this will definitely bring you unexpected gains.At the same time, when we take the initiative to help others, we will have a great sense of accomplishment in our hearts, and we will feel that life is very meaningful and valuable, because we keep giving without expecting anything in return, and this is the source of happiness in life .Haven't we heard that "the purpose of life is service" and "helping others is the foundation of happiness"?

As Carnegie said: If we want to make friends, we must first do things for others - things that take time, energy, thoughtfulness and dedication to do.

[-]. Ways to accumulate contacts
551. Introduced by an acquaintance

The introduction of acquaintances is a method of expanding network resources with twice the result with half the effort, and it has the power of multiplication.

The introduction of acquaintances speeds up the speed of trust with people, increases the probability of successful cooperation, and reduces the cost of communication. It is indeed a shortcut to accumulate network resources.

Therefore, in business activities, we need to develop some habitual words, such as: "If there is a suitable customer or object, please introduce it to me, thank you!", "If there is anyone who needs this product or service, please Tell me.”, “We have an event tonight, you can bring some friends over.”, “Do you have any friends in this field? Can you introduce me so we can get to know each other.” etc. After saying this a few times , The other party will also form a habit of thinking, if there is a suitable customer or object, he will remember what you said.

552. Participate in related associations
Participating in the community can interact with others in a natural state to build relationships, learn from serving the crowd, create business opportunities and expand your network of contacts.

In interpersonal communication, we may encounter this phenomenon: when we usually take the initiative to get close to strangers, we are easy to be rejected, but when we participate in a community, the communication between people will be smoother in a "natural" situation.

If you join a society, you'd better get the role of an organizer. Of course, it's better to be the chairman, president, or secretary-general, and secondly, you should also be a secretary, because in this way, you will get An opportunity to serve others. In the process of serving others, you will naturally increase the time to contact, communicate, and understand others, and your network of contacts will naturally continue to expand.

Some people instinctively loathe or dread rowdy parties, seeing them as a waste of time and energy.Of course, if you want to be a solitary person, these activities are indeed a waste of time and life.And if you want to expand your career and career, these activities are absolutely necessary for you. What you need to do is to distinguish which ones to participate in and which ones to avoid.

553. Make good use of your business cards

If you want to accumulate contacts, you must pay attention to strengthening the management of business card resources.

First of all, when you exchange business cards with others on different occasions, be sure to record in detail who, what, when, where, and what you met with each other.After the communication activities are over, you should recall and review the important person you just met, and remember his name, company, position, industry, etc.The next day or two or three days later, take the initiative to make a phone call or send an email to express the joy of getting acquainted with the other party, or appropriately praise a certain aspect of the other party, or recall the details of your happy party, so that the other party can deepen their love for you. impression and understanding.

Secondly, classify and manage business cards.You can classify by region, such as: by province, city; you can also classify by industry; you can also classify by the nature of network resources, such as: classmates, customers, experts, etc.

(End of this chapter)