Using Alumni Networks to Grow Your Business - Dos and Don’ts for Contacting Old Classmates
by Carrie Hinkel
Published March 28th, 2008
One of the best ways to grow your business network is by building relationships with fellow alumni from your undergraduate or graduate school. Having that common bond immediately bridges the gap from stranger to acquaintance and helps open the lines of communication. You may have had the same friends, shared the same dormitory, had the same teacher, loved the same restaurant, etc. You’d be surprised how much in common you have with your fellow classmates, whether or not you even knew them back in your student days. Many startup companies are formed with fellow alumni, and today colleges and universities are making it easy with online alumni forums. There are even websites, like AffinityCircles.com , that help alumni build their own networking circles.
Networking with alumni can help you build your company, gain clients or get helpful information. However, it’s crucial that you think of your alumni contacts as relationships and not a pool of potential clients, investors or buyers. In other words, build the relationships first before asking for something in return. True, this may be months in the making, but having this common background can really help to take business to the next level - whether that be in becoming business partners, asking about potential investors or talking about a list of possible clients.
When joining an alumni network, it’s important not to abuse your membership by say, only logging on when you have a question or favor to ask, or sending a mass request for investment money. Think of your alumni network as your friends, and treat them accordingly. You can begin building relationships by getting involved in the forums and answering questions, fulfilling requests and doing favors. Try to keep your name in the postings regularly so that others will begin to see your name as familiar.
Once you have built some relationships and you have a relevant request or favor then consider sending a personal message to your alumni contacts, rather than a mass posting to anyone and everyone. A personal message is more likely to get answered and it makes your request seem more important because it was a specific request to someone who you thought would be most qualified to help you out.
Alumni classmates can prove to be truly powerful contacts. And as a new class graduates every year, your tappable market just keeps growing and growing. While sites like Myspace and Facebook are more for socializing, alumni networking sites are known for building and maintaining business contacts - after all, after college, that’s where most alumni end up - in the business world. So, whether you’re working on putting together a management team for your new company, building your client list, gaining private investors for your start up, or just improving your marketing programs, joining an alumni network can help you do all that plus make some life-long friends in the process!
