Chevening Networking Question
I believe that the less resources you have, the more you acquire networking skills in the process of achieving something. This is exactly how I developed a strong networking skills. It started with talking to people in my home town who can help me and my voluntary team. I had to listen to them and bring up the positive topics in discussions. That helped me build a trustful relationship with them and receive positive reactions from them. They're helping us till now to secure that food supplies for about 40 families in need.
In 2013 I was working as a sales representative in resorts and my job was about to invite as much as possible of foreigners to our company exhibition in Sharm El Sheikh. I had no selling skills or even know how to speak any language but Arabic. It took me a while just talking with different nationalities of tourists and listening to them. After less than 45 days, I started to speak English, Russian and Italian just by dealing with people from that countries and studying after work. My leads increased and also my conversion rate. I learned a lot through dealing with different cultures. I learned how to find the shared values that makes a solid ground we both can stand on and how to interact with others in a short time and convert this relation into touchable outcome.
In my current occupation. First situation, I was attending Hace hotel expo in Egypt. The main target was to build relations with the exhibitors and offer them our online platform. What helped me a lot is that I was well prepared. I attended for 4 days talking and discussing the needs and listening to the ambitions of these exhibitors. Finally, I've found something in common which is the future. After two months of negotiations and direct contact, the 185 exhibitors of Hace expo has signed up contracts with us. This networking experience taught me to be patient to get the best results. I had the chance to add value in my position. And helped me to gain credibility between the team.
The second situation was that we were facing a problem with marketing agencies who try to contact our clients to sell them their services. I have found that we can transform this into a win-win situation. The plan was to start communicating with these agencies and offering them our clients who need their services in exchange for, they will sell our service as a part of their package they're offering to their clients. That actually was such a breakthrough solution and we could make partnerships with 9 agencies.
That networking experience was so special because it accelerated our growth and was such a pain killer.
I am aiming to maturate my networking skills by joining the Chevening community. I am enthusiastic to join The Scholar Events Competition to build long-lasting relations with my fellows and use it in Egypt as soon as I get back.