Applying the 7 habits to your business networking

How many people will be there at your networking event?

Who is in your inner network?

Advocacy by Penny Power
I was really pleased when Ecademy founder Penny Power asked if she could quote me on Advocacy in her new book Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me - what online social networking means for you and your business.Penny was at a meeting when I presented and subsequently wrote about here a couple of years ago on networking for advocates. She wrote about this in her book and what she learned about advocacy."The greatest aspect of 'like me' is is the power of creating advocates a

Leaving the wrong impression
A recent post, 'Are business cards a necessity for business networking?' received replies here and also on links to the post on my profile on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. A great example of the need to keep up with your conversations online.The consensus of the replies about business cards was that they were a necessity in business networking

Who answers your phone whilst you are out?
One of the points covered at last week's Client Attraction Techniques Masterclass from Small Business Marketing Expert Nigel Temple was response time. Your clients or potential clients often want an answer right now. Indeed this is so important that 80% of business people do not leave a message if they get an answer machine or voicemail. If you are investing valuable time in generating leads and referrals from networking and other business development activities you don't want to lose out when you can't answer the phone personally. It is uneconomic for may small businesses to employ a receptionist. There are, however, many virtual office

Networking Lessons from the Law of Contract
One of the first subjects I studied in Law was the Law of Contract. In order for a contract to be a legally binding agreement a number of distinct elements need to be in place:1. Offer and acceptance2. Intention3. Capacity4. Consent5. Consideration6. Legality7. PossibilityThese indicate that the parties have not just discussed a possibility, but have a definite agreement about a desired outcome and the specific things required by each to fulfill this.There are great lessons to be learned from this in networking. Many people are not really getting the most out of their networking. They are just meeting people and hoping

Who do you want to talk to?
In a One2One this week a mutual acquaintance was mentioned by my friend. She said this about him "I really like and trust him, but I have no idea how to help him in business because he is really vague about who he wants to talk to".Later I was able to relay this message and ask the person who would be a good prospect. After a few minutes I understood clearly the frustration felt by my friend. He committed to work on the problem and come up with something to help his network to help him.It is really important to get people to know and like you, but it's equally important to be clear about who and what you are looking for.Good Networking!