“There are tons of times throughout the course of the day when you’re looking for a good person, and how do you find that person?” says Jamie Grenney, Head of Sales, Marketing and Customer Success at Connect the Dots, a professional networking platform. What separates Connect the Dots from similar platforms is that it sources from users’ email banks, determining, based on the level of interaction within the emails, how well two people within the same network might know each other. For an employer trying to narrow the search for a hire, or a shy young person looking to make inroads into their industry, this provides enough context to make a warm introduction, increasing the chance that both parties find what they’re looking for.
It’s a venture that’s been years in the making, and yet is more timely than ever. Connect the Dots’ CEO Drew Sechrist, who worked with Jamie at Salesforce back in the early 2000s, had no major connections when he first started out. So, by ghostwriting emails which colleagues and acquaintances then sent out on his behalf, he managed to make his way into the network of Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff, which changed the trajectory of his career. Now Connect the Dots provides users with a welcome screening process, as they sift through an ever-increasing amount of inbox clutter, and change course away from the cold contact models and software.
Tune in to this episode of Billion Dollar Tech to find out what advice Jamie would give to young entrepreneurs, what author Robin Dunbar’s writing on human relationships tells us about our networking habits, and the result of Jamie’s resolution to make 100 connections in 100 days.
Quotes:
“When someone does make the introduction, you follow through, and represent yourself well. That’s the other key to success.” ([5:47]-[5:57] | Jamie)
“That’s one of the real differences: using email you get a lot better signal about how well people know each other and you can always go back to that original message to see how you were introduced.”([8:27]-[8:37] | Jamie)
“Asking is good. We’ve got nothing to lose by making the ask, the key is to make sure there’s the context there, or the why, and you make it easier for the other person to say yes.” ([14:03]-[14:16] | Jamie)
“Now we’re at the point where, everyone has access to your contact data, everybody has automation, so that’s increasing the volume of stuff that I’m receiving, and so people have begun to tune it out.”([17:33]-[17:45] | Jamie)
“It’s becoming harder and harder to get through and so the best way to filter through that noise is when people respond to people in their inbox that they know and so if they see a name that they recognize they’re far more likely to open that and far more likely to respond than if you’re going in cold.” ([17:51]-[18:08] | Jamie)
“Everybody is basically scanning to delete, they’re not scanning to read.” ([8:15]-[18:17] | Brendan)
“Running fast is important but you want to avoid rework. You don’t want to be in a spot where you’ve thrown too much away.” ([28:45]-[28:53] | Jamie)
“Nothing is more important than growth. Growth solves all problems.” ([31:12]-[3:15] | Jamie)
Connect with Brendan Dell:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandell/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendanDell
Instagram: @thebrendandell
TikTok: @brendandell39
Buy a copy of Brendan’s Book, The 12 Immutable Laws of High-Impact Messaging: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578210926
Connect with Jamie Grenney:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/jamiegrenney
Twitter: @JamieGrenney
https://www.ctd.ai/
Check out Jamie Grenney’s recommended resources:
Friends, by Robin Dunbar: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781408711736
Accidental Superpower, by Peter Zeihan: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781455583683
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About the Author
Brendan Dell
Brendan Dell is an author and the founder of The Daily Creative. As a freelancer he's worked with clients like Expedia, Cvent, Panasonic, Brother, Windstream and 100+ more to build unignorable tech brands. At The Daily Creative, he shares advice and lessons to help freelancers level up.
