Social Networking Skills

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Networking. You’ve heard the term before, what does it really mean? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary has a good definition: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business. You cultivate relationships with people to fulfill mutual goals. You exchange contacts, ideas and resources. Networking is not just about using your business card printing services. Handing out business cards is not networking. Read on to see how you can influence how well networking works for you by using simple tactics when forming your networking circle.

Be selective. This is one of the most valuable ways to increase your productivity. If you form faithful, solid business relationships with companies that offer products or services that complement yours, you could potentially have a lifetime of referrals. Great networking occurs when one client’s many needs can be satisfied by several businesses in the same networking circle.

For example, let’s say you are a veterinarian. For every animal you see the following group of business professionals could profit from your referral and vice versa:

1. Breeder - to adopt or buy more animals

2. Local humane society - partner to examine newly adopted animals

3. Pet stores - partner to examine newly adopted animals or to purchase pet materials

Depending on what the pet owner needs and wants, at least three businesses can profit from the veterinarian’s referrals. This works the other way around, too. If any of these three businesses needs a veterinarian at any time, or one of their customers needs a recommendation, all three will point to the veterinarian. A smart vet would network with local businesses and be sure to return any business opportunities that came his way.

Make sure you partner with related businesses that aren’t competitors. This might seem obvious, but you need to think carefully about who you network with. The vet could partner with a pet hospital, but will the pet owners eventually decide that they don’t even need a family vet? They might conclude that they only need to go to the pet hospital when there’s a problem.

Ask yourself what your networking goals are. Some groups hold meetings where you learn about an industry or business techniques. If you want to just make contacts and learn about individual businesses, then seek out a group that only holds networking dinners or something more social than a presentation.

Visit group meetings if possible. Obviously if you are networking business to business, without the help of a group, you’ll want to visit the individual business owners. Maybe offer to take them out to lunch. If you are interested in a group, try to visit a meeting to get a feeling of the attitude of the group. Are they friendly? Are they supportive? How’s their leadership? Are they organized or are people just getting together to shoot the breeze?

Research. Do some research upfront and find out what businesses and industries could help you the most, and then give them a call or pay them a visit and start building concrete business relationships. This will save you time in the long run, because you’ll be building relationships with people that you know will help you and you can help them. You don’t want to spend an entire evening finding out that none of the people in that group can help you.

Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.

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