If you are uncertain of what business networking is, it is simply a method with which people can interact with other people on both formal and informal basis through a prism of business purposes. Nowadays, networking is one of the biggest ways for growing a list of connections.
From CEOs to managers, sales reps and even interns – everyone does business networking in order to get ahead of the best opportunities for personal and business growth, but also get into a goal-oriented mindset.
So, are you wondering how to start off with successful business networking? Today, we are listing some of the most important keys to successful business networking:
- Be Focused And Specific – When networking, the first rule is to be focused on an actual conversation based on your interests, instead of only building more contacts. This adds tremendous value to the whole process.
- Have Low Expectations – Going in with high expectations is bad when doing business networking, as it puts many things under pressure and lets you paint a wrong picture of yourself. Therefore, the best rule when doing business networking is to NOT expect anything.
- Be Bold – Stepping out of your comfort zone means being bold with how you express yourself to strangers and how you strike up a conversation – all important things when doing business networking.
- Follow Up – The main point of networking is to follow up the fruitful conversation, and make the most of it afterwards. Instead of emailing or calling everyone you’ve met, focus on following up with only the prospects that caught your attention.
Now, let’s mention some of the things you should avoid when doing business networking:
- DON’T only take – but also give – and introduce people to other people you know
- DON’T be a stalker
- DON’T sell items directly or push people to buy them
- DON’T feel bad after making a mistake – this can be a positive sign (we are all humans after all)
- DON’T bring your friends to a networking event
In the end, you should know that networking is similar to playing chess – making the right move is also important, whether it is in the beginning or the end of the conversation!