The holiday season is a great time to spend with people you care about. It is also a great time to boost your career. How? Through building relationships. Whether it is relationships with colleagues, your boss, your clients, or possible leads, relationship is the key. Here are some ways to build relationships during the holidays and boost your career.
1. Make connections at holiday events
Holiday parties and get togethers are not the time to try to sell yourself to boost your career. This is the time and place where you can build relationships.
If your office is having a party, join them and enjoy talking about life outside of work. If you are attending a friend’s party, you will want to mention your career, but do not spend the night talking about it. Focus on the people you are connecting with at the moment.
2. Send holiday cards
Sending holiday cards to your current clients helps to build relationships and trust with them. In return, they may choose to recommend you to someone they know because you have taken the time to nurture that business relationship in a personal way.
You can also send cards to future clients from the events you attend. Have your business information on the card, but do not make it the most important part of the card. Keep the focus on the holidays and the purpose of building new relationships.
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3. Give your time
The holidays always provide time for people to volunteer. Take the time to serve others in a homeless shelter, shop for the elderly, and spread holiday cheer.
This is a great way to focus on others which can give you a new outlook on your career. Sometimes looking at things from a different perspective actually can open your eyes to areas in your career you were not seeing before and need to be changed.
4. Follow up
An important way to boost your career growth during the holiday season is to remember to follow up on any new leads or contacts you have come across during the holidays. Ask if there is anything you can do for the new contacts and continue to build that relationship.
This is just another way to build those relationships to help boost your career. You will also want to check in with your regular customers to be sure you are meeting their needs.
5. Host your own party
When you host your own holiday party, you can include whomever you want on your invitation list. Think of new contacts, current clients, and old friends you might want to do more business with.
Include bosses and co-workers you want to network with and build relationships with. Keep the party personal rather than business related. Otherwise, you will lose the trust you have worked hard to build up.
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The holiday season is a perfect time to relate to those you work with and those you want to work with. Building relationships is key to boosting your career, and the holidays are a perfect time to start.
