Can You Effectually Market or Place Product Without Being Skilled at Networking?

I write and speak about Why Nobody Likes Networking but I also run a sales & marketing division that far out punches its weight and class. And sometimes — just sometimes — when I score a win so good that it makes me stop and marvel, I like to think about the mechanics of it all and to truly dissect the play. What factors allow me to achieve success?

Did I score big because I'm good at my job? Or am I good at my job because of my philosophical outlook on how I think about networking? I'm going with the later and I'm going to use this mic placement on KITH's latest brilliant campaign as an example.

Here's how I secured product placement with KITH

KITH was clever enough to tap Coast Contra and Coast Contra was smart enough to work with Grammy Award Winning sound engineer Reginald "ReggieNic" Nicholas and I was lucky enough to work with Reggie and to slip right down the middle of all of this. As a betting man, I'm throwing full odds that KITH has no idea who I am or even what brand of mics I represent. But they liked the look and the sound of it all — and that's all that really matters.

Like good networking practices, product placement follows the exact same rules. Be helpful. Be additive. Don't call attention to yourself. Do what you're there for and shine the spotlight on the things that matter.

Networking is about what you give, not what you take. It's about being present and available and showing up and saying yes. It's about being a gracious host and setting the stage for getting things done and for accomplishing monumental tasks and projects. The parallels are eerily similar.

And they get even more interesting when you add in more and more people who operate with the same mentality. It stops being about placement. It stops being about marketing opportunities. It becomes about what you can create. What you can do. Networking turns into the ability to dream and the vehicle for getting things done.

Reggie didn't call me because he thought the mics would look good or sound great (that was a given from the start or I wouldn't have gotten the call in the first place.) He called me because he knew I would say yes and make things seamless and easy. He called me because I'm easy to work with and because I know how to get things done. Because I'm dependable. Reliable. And I do what I commit to. That's the root of networking. That's when 1+1 starts to equal 33.

Focus on how you're supposed to act

I actually had no idea that this wonderful win was coming my way. I just knew that I trust Reggie completely and that he always delivers. (Which is why he knew that I would say Yes.) You see how this works yet? You all keep thinking about what you're supposed to be doing rather than on focusing on how you're supposed to be acting. That's the difference. When you care about the skill and the art of the bigger picture, the marketing and placement are simply the byproduct and the inevitable outcome of getting the job done. That's networking at its finest!

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Mike Dias is a business leader with over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of Pro Audio and Consumer Electronics. He is a huge believer that life is about who you know and that success is about who's in your network. This is why he writes and and speaks so passionately about Why Nobody Likes Networking and What Entertainers can Teach Executives. From time to time, he shares business wins like this to illustrate the power of adopting a networking mindset for work and for life.  If you or your teams need more sales & wins or if you want to infuse your organization with that same can’t fail attitude and work ethic that goes into building out all of your favorite shows and concerts, then simply get in touch.

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