"Becoming The Perfect Networker ... Succeeding One Connection at a Time" is coming out next month.
Please send me a Networking Secret Tip you use to create opportunities and relationships. If you tip is used, I will give you credit and a link to your webiste on the book.
I will be listing the Tips here that I receive.
Mac Cassity - Connector at PerfectNetworker.com
Work on quality, not quantity - So many people feel like they had a successful networking event just because they met a bunch of people. Personally, I don’t care how many I met, as long as I had quality conversations with the ones I did meet.
Bring business cards and write on them - Having business cards seems like a gimmee if you are at a networking event, but I can almost guarantee that at least one person in the crowd will have either forgotten theirs, or is out of them. That is crazy, UNLESS they get one from the other person and truly do follow up. Most promise to, few ever do. I like to write a fact or bit of info on the backs of cards I get so I remember tidbits of info after the event. Also, if someone doesn’t have a card, you can have them write some info on the back of one of yours.
Focus the conversations on the OTHER person - Ask questions, learn more about them, when you are done, ask a few more. People LOVE to talk about themselves. If they turn the subject to you, answer, but then get back to them. This is so key in developing the relationship. They will naturally be attracted to you as your interest in them will be remembered favorably. How often do you fondly recall that person that only talked about themselves all night? Because you focus on listening, they will be more inclined to seek you at future events, and wanting to find out about what YOU do.
FOLLOW UP! - What good is networking and getting business contact info if you aren’t going to use it? Most folks never do. They go to event after event and are always stuck in the rut of not having enough business. Follow up with the folks you meet and set up a time to grab coffee or lunch. Business will happen, as long as you take the time to establish the relationship properly.
Nicole Beus - Indy's Services and GM of PerfectImageNation.com / www.IndyES.net
1. Schedule time daily for networking. Whether you participate in an online professional networking site, Facebook, or other social media outlet - schedule 15 minutes a day to reach out to current contacts, meet someone new and update your status.
2. When you are at an event, make sure and meet someone new. When I go to baseball games or other events, I am constantly looking around me and more importantly listening to people. I almost always find a moment that I can introduce myself and have some common subject to talk about. The person you're talking to may not be a prospective client or vendor, but they might have a great connection to give you in the future.
Curtis Cole - Kent Door & Specialty
When I'm out running errands (banking, groceries, etc), I always pick up business cards from corkboards, desks, etc. I send out invites to join PerfectNetworker to the email addresses I see on the cards. I give it a couple days to digest, then I follow up with a personal call to see if there are any questions and to mainly introduce myself and what I'm about. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Chris Doerr from Beltway Networking
You have two types of networking - event and social. How can you combine the two? Place your social media profiles on your business cards. By doing so potential connections have your contact information and can follow you online.
Dale Furtwengler - Furtwengler & Associates, P.C. / 314-707-3771 http://www.furtwengler.com
If you want to create a memory while networking define your ideal customer, not by demographics, but by the values they possess. Values elicit emotional reactions which create memory. It also makes it easier for those with whom you network to identify whether or not someone is a good referral to you. You'll end up with better referrals and waste less time with those who aren't a good fit for you.
Dick Steiner - Dick Steiner Magician & Mentalist
Get to a networking event 30 minutes early and study the names, titles and companies that will be there. Focus on the 3 or 4 you want to meet, and ask to be introduced to them either by the host or someone that knows them. It is ideal if the person knows you and the people you want to meet. This is using a 3rd party introduction method which typically creates instant credibility as well as a warm introduction.
From Vincent Wright - MyLinkingPowerForum.ning.com
1. N – Network – No network, no gain. Positively said: The better
your network, the greater your gain. Networking is networking – online or off, entrepreneur or warehouse worker, doctor, lawyer, student, teacher, child, or grandparent – to advance from where you are to where you want to go, you need help and the best help you can get on earth is the hands of others. To get their hands, you need to network with them.
2. E – Energy – To network with people, you need to put some energy into your networking. Put twice as much energy into your networking as you want to get out of it. Energy makes you shine. If you don’t let your light shine, no one will notice you. If no one notices you, you can’t network. If you can’t network, you can’t get their hands. Show people that you and your light are present and available to help them GET MORE!
3. T – Thoughtfulness – THINK of others! There is no getting around the great importance of thinking of others. What good is a networker who doesn’t think of others? What do they need? When do they need it? Where do they need help? How much help do they need? What else do they need? If you can’t give them what they need at the time that
they need it, what else can you give them instead? A referral? A lead? Guidance?
4. W – Work – Ok. So, you’ve done all the right things in growing your network. You’ve thought about people you know and the people they know, you’ve considered that people in networks want to connect with you, they want your energy, and you’ve started assembling your network. But, there’s still the most important thing to excel at: WORK. Your WORK must be EXCELLENT! (Not perfect. Just EXCELLENT! You’re networking because you can’t be perfect and because you want to be excellent in some area of your life.)
5. O – Organize – Organize your work, your network, and your networking. How can a network of people be sustained without it and you being organized? It can’t! Not for long, anyway. Organization is the key to reducing the stress of life. If you’re not organized, network with someone who can help you in this area, too.
6. R – Recruit – Very few people know what the word “recruit” actually means. But what it means is of TREMENDOUS value to you: “To nourish the core”. If you’re weak, stressed, empty, broke, un-centered, inexperienced, or aging, YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO RECRUIT PEOPLE TO HELP YOU!
7. K – Knowledge – Keep adding value to your knowledge by keeping your knowledge current, up to date. Who wants information that’s stale, disorganized, incomplete, ill-informed, or poorly formed. Read stuff. Learn stuff. Shape stuff. Share stuff with LOTS of other people in your NETWORK.
