1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry.
Who: William
Background: Works at Germ-X
How I found them: My dad has a friend who works for health companies and put me in contact with William who is a brand manager at Germ-X.
What favor they did for me: William gave me good feedback on my sanitation product. He said it has a lot of potential. He mentioned that it may be hard to get my product to gas stations as they are very stingy on the products they allow near their pumps. However, he says if I start off small it could grow into something bigger.
Opportunity: I think William would be a great person to add to my network because he works in the health industry and he could offer a lot of advice on how to properly market a product like this.
2) One person must be an expert on your market.
Who: Noah
Background: Works at an online Market Analytics Company
How I found them: I found Noah online at his website and reached out to him via email
What favor they did for me: Noah gave me feedback on my product and told me about the different brands that I could be competing with in the health industry such as Purell, Dial, and Germ-X.
Opportunity: Noah is an expert in this market. He even told me that that global market for Hand Sanitizer is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2024. This is because people are becoming more conscious of their hygiene. Adding Noah to my network would allow me to gather data on my competitors and help me learn how I could expand in this market.
3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry.
Who: Darlene
Background: General Manager of Shell Gas Station
How I found them: I called a Shell Gas station and asked to speak to the manager. Darlene came to the phone and introduced herself as the manager of the gas station. She was reluctant to help me at first but became really helpful once I explained why I was calling
What favor they did for me: Darlene gave me a helpful feedback. She said that they would love a product like that, but they would rather place it inside so they could get customers in their store. By getting customers in their store, they would more likely to buy other products.
Opportunity: Darlene would be a great addition to my network because she has hands-on experience because she is directly dealing with customers on an everyday basis.
Reflection
Overall this experience was difficult because I reached out to a lot of people and they were busy. However, since I was persistent I met 3 great individuals who offered helpful feedback, advice, and expertise. This experience will allow me to be more confident when I attend future networking events. And no this experience does not differ from my past networking experiences in the past. Usually, the way I meet professionals is through LinkedIn, a friend, or by meeting them in person at an event.
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI feel is great that your dad introduced you to one of your soruces, I feel that conections while trying to develop a product or a service is key to grow. Keep growing your network and keep the good work to achieve success. You are doing great!!
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job with networking your social capital. It seemed like a difficult process with the connections even though your dad was able to help you out. I am glad you were able to stay persistent because you were able to get vital information especially by the general manager of the shell gas station. Great job and thank you for sharing!