The web is rich with ‘How To’ guides. I also read some of these articles and posts every now and then. You can probably find endless blog posts on ‘how to network ‘ online. I chose to publish here the first official ‘how to’ post to be on 5 things you should try NOT to do regarding your network. Remember, we all learn from mistakes, why not learn from others’ mistakes?
Don’t miss opportunities – When does that big opportunity come? You could never know. In order to avoid missing opportunities, there’s only one thing to do. Take part in activities related to your business and personal life as mentioned here before. Any occasion or person you meet, could easily become a great opportunity for a big client or a new contract, or finding the perfect candidate for a job your hiring for.
Then again, some meetings just bring up too many bad memories
Don’t force your business – Your product is great, I’m sure of that. But try to understand the event you’re participating in. Timing is everything (along with a good product,creative marketing and some luck…). Sometimes you might just have one opportunity to introduce yourself to someone relevant to you - don’t blow it. If you speak about your business in the wrong place, you might be considered rude and maybe even boring. From my experience, always introduce yourself first as a person, an individual. Don’t talk about your business straight away. People like to connect with people, not companies. Start by a short introduction about yourself. People will remember you but they will seldom remember a company name. If people will remember you it doesn’t matter which business it is, They would be interested in YOU.
Naymz is a fast growing professional networking site. Many features are similar to LinkedIn. Here is a list of 4 advantages and 4 disadvantages of Naymz, with many comparisons to LinkedIn.
In this post we will continue reviewing LinkedIn as part of our networking activities. Execpt for growing your connections on LinkedIn and joining groups, there is a lot more we can do to contribute to our growing network. Now, we will review how to connect to people we don’t know but would like to meet.
How to connect to unfamiliar people: LinkedIn is a great and fast way to connect to people you would like to do business with, but haven’t met before. Here are a few ways on how to do it.
First of all, I recommend as a prior step to get connected to all your existing connections as described in my last post: LinkedIn – Increase Your Networking. After doing so, the LinkedIn system will automaticly suggest people you might know, and can be used to connect to people you might want to know. This appears on the upper right side of your screen titled “People you may know”.
LinkedIn is a career focused network. I have been an active user for the last few years, and giving it more attention since I have become self-employed. In this post I’ll review some of LinkedIn’s advantages that have been effective for me.
