An Easy Guide to Master Networking

With so many networking groups, events, and functions to attend, it can become overwhelming when it’s time to decide when or how often one should network. How do you define networking? How often should you be networking? Networking can be very exciting and like many other undertakings, is an art and should be a natural part of your interaction and connecting with others. “I believe the most important part of networking is deepening the relationship you have with those in your network.” Jack Canfield So when and how often should you network?

Networking is made up of 4 different steps. First, it’s important to meet people who can be of help to you. That’s why you go to professional conferences to meet speakers, authors, connected business professionals and the list goes on and on. Sometimes you meet people in off-beat places, like the airport or in line at the grocery store. So you may meet a life-long friend when you least expect it.

Your goal is to meet people that can help you with product development, connect you with publishers and editors to help write or get a book published, or simply make friends with professionals of all different backgrounds. This enables you to market yourself to a wide variety or select group of professionals so you can position yourself to be of service and value to them and yourself. You go where people can be of help to you and treat everyone as if they are important. Because you never know who may be able to help you by way of putting you in contact with exactly what you need.

The 2nd step is collecting and updating contact information. You want to collect phone numbers, business cards, email addresses and keep building your database. So let’s say you are an Authur, or speaker and you are having an event. You can engage the audience by requesting they drop their business cards in a hat and the winner gets a prize like a copy of your book or a $1500 audio package you are giving away. You could go home with literally hundreds of business cards.

The 3rd step is keeping in regular contact with the people in your network. If your network is small, like 20 or 30 people, you can call people or send them cards, or something in the mail. If you have a large network, like 20 or 30 thousand followers, you can send out emails, or have monthly Webinars, or do certain things to bring them all together.

You could possibly put on some kind of event, like a dinner or some sort of outing every 1 or 2 months. You can make a list of the top 20 most important people in your life, in terms of helping you build your business, helping you network, or having your back. You should spend 15 minutes a day reaching out to your network. Do something like twittering or blogging, or a quick phone call. You could do something as simple as congratulating them because you noticed their favorite team won last night or their son or daughter graduated college. The big things come from small things.

The 4th step is to make sure you thank them for their help. Help them when they need it and ask for help when you need it. Everyone wants to feel deep down that their life has meaning and significance, like they have contributed something of value to the world, they have a connection by being a part of a network, and to know they are appreciated.

You are always networking because you are constantly meeting people and you never know who could be a valuable addition to your network. Having a true desire to connect with others can be extremely beneficial in your personal growth as well as the increase of others. Positioning yourself to connect with individuals that can help you and that you can help, ensures a win, win situation. People will look forward to doing business with you because of the visibility, credibility and profitability that you have established. The important part of networking is deepening the relationship with the individuals in your network.