October 07, 2014, by Stephanie Messier | Performance Management
Networking; we all do it whether we call it networking or not. Networking is essential to making meaningful connections both in our professional lives and within our communities. It was through networking that my business partner and I first talked about consulting after a corporate career, and here we are today with a successful business five years after that initial lunch meeting. We’ve even found great babysitters for our kids through networking in our communities. Through our years of developing a vast professional network, we’ve come across some very effective ways to network, and some really poor networking practices. Here are our networking do’s and don’ts:
Do:
Spend time each month reaching out to people in your network to check in with them and ask how things are going.
Send pertinent information you come across to folks in your network that you know will help them either in their professional or personal lives.
Ensure your networking efforts have the other person’s best interests in mind; it’s all about paying it forward.
Take the time to network with more junior business contacts, not just your peers or senior level professionals. We all were there at one point in our career, and very few of us made it to where we are today without someone advising us or pointing us in the right direction.
Connect people within your network where it makes sense to do so and you think both parties would highly benefit from the connection.
Ensure you send a thank you note when you initiated contact with a connection and you were the one asking for advice.
Ensure there is a win-win in the networking meeting. If the other person offers to help you in some way, be sure to reciprocate – it may not be at that exact moment, but if the opportunity presents itself remember them.
Don’t:
Spend precious networking minutes on selling; it’s not about selling but about building relationships.
Talk only about yourself. Be sure to ask lots of questions of the other person to understand their business and what help they may need.
Be a taker; make sure you give as much or more than you take.
Forget your connection’s time is as valuable as your own; don’t waste it.
You want to ensure that your conversation makes a lasting positive impression on your connection so that they remember you going forward. You don’t want to be remembered as the person they need to avoid at all costs! Remember, networking is relationship building; ensure you are putting more “chips in the bank” so to speak than you are taking out with your connections.
