Networking 101July 17, 2012

What is Networking?

Networking = the developing of contacts or exchanging of

information with others in an informal network, as to further a career

“Rolodex power. Your power is almost directly proportional to the thickness of your Rolodex, and the time you spend maintaining it. Put bluntly the most potent people I've known have been the best networkers -- they ‘know everybody from everywhere’ and have just been out to lunch with most of them.”

-Tom Peters (1942 -), The Pursuit of Wow

Everyone has a network

4 Types of Business Networking

•Professional Industry/Trade Associations (whatever the profession, there’s a national association for it)

•Professional General Interest/City groups (no matter the city, there are people promoting business in it)

•Civic & NonProfit Organizations (wherever you live, there are do-gooders)

•Personal groups, a.k.a. Happy Hours, Coffee Clutches, Standing-on-the-sidelines of kickball games (your friends want to go to Happy Hour and you meet people!)

•AIGA – the professional Assn for Design

•Independent Floral Designers Assn

•(Beer) Brewer’s Assn of MD

•National Association for the Advancement of Science & Art in

Sexuality (NAASAS).

•The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC)

•ISES – Intl Special Event Society

•NACE – Natl Assn of Catering Executives

•PCMA – Professional Convention Management Assn

•Visit Baltimore (our local CVB)

•HSMAI – Hospitality Sales & Mktg Assn

•Professional Wedding Guild (MD)

The Rules

for Business Networking

Go with another person – and preferably someone who doesn’t work for the same company.

(it’s more fun to have a partner and you won’t look so pathetic standing alone)

Have a firm handshake!

Beware of Clumping!

Volunteer to join a committee

(you’ll be surprised at the things you’ll learn)

Attend Regularly

(people will start to anticipate your attendance)

Arrange one-to-ones with people you know –

know them better.

Being connected to lots of people will NOT make you successful.

Give Referrals!

Give Referrals!

Give Referrals!

The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.

-Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone

Don’t expect to receive any

referrals until you give referrals.

Don’t expect referrals from the

people you referred business

to…

Universal Law:

Energy in, Energy Out

Just not in the same form.

Give without remembering.

Receive without forgetting.

Encourage interactions.

Encourage referrals.

Encourage transactions.

It’s business networking, not social

networking!

Business networks are not business networks

without business happening somewhere.

You don’t need to learn to “work a room”,

You need to learn how to work your network.

The No No’s

of Networking

NO dead fish handshake!

Don’t net-whack.

“Network Selectively. Nothing says ‘business newbie’ like shotgun networking. ‘You never know when someone might say yes’ is marketing for dummies.” 

-Steve Pavlina, 10 Business Lessons From a Snarky Entrepreneur

Did I mention

“Social Networking?”

Thank you

Petra Compel, Directorpcompel@featsinc.com

Read the blog www.petrasgab.wordpress.com