Matchmaking is Good for Business - and it's Just Good

Networking is one of those things that you just have to do but when you do it right it's really something you get to do. Sometimes networking is something you do because you have an agenda (hopefully not in a malicious way) and sometimes it's something you do because you're one human being helping out another.

I had an opportunity today to connect two people who really should know each other.

We've just begun our mass outreach effort to introduce who we are and what we do to publishers across the US and in talking with Lori at Nashville House and Home she mentioned that they've experienced a significant increase in their postage costs which comes right out of the bottom line. Then, today, I was speaking with Matthew at Graphcom (a print and fulfillment firm in Gettysburg) and he started talking about some of the things they do to manage postage expense for their clients. (I hope they don't mind my using their names/companies, I figure the SEO benefit is worth it but I may have to redact.)

This is a classic example of when an introduction can benefit both parties and it feels great to be able to make the connection. Sure, we get the benefit of demonstrating in a small way the sort of value we bring to the table (and of course get a handy blog post out of it) but it's also the right thing to do.

I don't know if we'll end up formally working with either of them but it was worth taking a few minutes to pen the e-mail introduction. I challenge you (publishers) to go out of your way to make a connection in your community, you'll be glad you did.

Have you made an introduction in the past or even recently that really made a difference for the people you introduced? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.