When a person is able to network effectively, he or she will begin to build long-term relationships that they will cherish beyond commercial objectives. Kathy Condon, expert speaker on business networking, once received a special discount from her dry-cleaning lady because she started a conversation with her, showed signals that she was interested in what was being said and gave a big smile with a follow-up line of "I'll see you next Saturday" as she left the shop. Condon calls it met-working. "The word networking needs to be banned as far as I am concerned. Bookstores have whole sections labelled networking and they are all computer books." Condon adds that she will only give someone her business card to serve as an easy way for people to get in touch with her, Condon's namecards are not advertisements. "I never talk about my business on a first meeting with someone, unless he or she asks. It is my view that I want to get know more about the person with whom I am speaking at the time. Business can come later, when we sit down over a cup of coffee."
James Acheson-Gray, managing director of Grayling Public Relations said that he is slightly averse to the idea of attending a function or an event with the primary goal of networking. "In fact, I don't even really like the term itself, it sounds rather too Machiavellian and suggests that you are only attending the event because it might offer you a business advantage." He also points out negative networking methods. "You quickly know if you are meeting a networking type. Typically they want to tell you all about their business in the shortest possible time and usually not bother to find out anything about you. Alternatively they want to find out as much as possible about you in as little time as possible."
However, there are networking success stories. Have you ever been to a Tupperware product demonstration party? Tupperware ladies invite their friends who will in turn invite friends of their friends and in the end, a sales-focussed network is created. This referral method works for multi-level marketing where the buyer and seller have a common link and in the case of Tupperware, it is mutual acquaintances. What if you are not in the cash and carry business but are networking to source for career opportunities?
Author of A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market, Katharine Hansen, wrote that the hidden job market holds 80 to 95 percent of jobs that are not advertised. She adds that alumni clubs, associations and post-graduate conferences are career networking goldmines. "Networking has long been considered one of the most effective ways to job hunt - increasingly, success can spring not just from whom you know but from who knows you," said Hansen.
In short, if you selfishly approach networking as a tool to benefit only yourself by meeting people more important than you, you will fail to taste the relationship-building benefits that proper networking or met-working brings.
Networking tips:
- Give a firm handshake
- Introduce yourself clearly in 10 seconds
- Keep in contact
- Share information and offer help
- Organise your contact database
Source: Rochester Women's Network
