I know a lot of business people that don’t enjoy networking, which may sound like a contradiction to good business. But surprisingly quite a few people, even those highly sociable individuals like myself, can sometimes find the art less desirable. I believe that’s because networking, in some instances has gotten a bad name and here’s why:
In their quest to promote their business, some overly-anxious entrepreneurs and business owners attend networking events with the wrong goal in mind, engaging in what I call “business tag”, rushing to tag potential prospects with business cards while bombarding them with intense pitches, business introductions and new promotions. For the individual on the opposite end of this conversation, it can feel overbearing and overwhelming, a bit unnatural and desperate, but I’ve experienced it. For example, I attended an event several months back and met a young lady there. The conversation started out well, but then it shifted, at least for me. No sooner than 2 or 3 minutes into the conversation, she was trying to sell me on her services. She gave me a postcard and asked if I wanted to sign up for a program she was promoting. I wasn’t interested. After all, we’d just met. We spoke a bit longer and she asked me again about signing up. Nope, still not interested. It was too much, too soon. I might have been interested down the road, but certainly not at that moment. The problem: She wasn’t networking, she was trying to sell, on the spot. This situation left a bad impression on me, which is not what we want to happen.
Networking is an opportunity to build relationships, gain new allies and friends. The goal is to connect, communicate and share information because people do business with people they like, know and trust, which is especially true with service-oriented businesses. In the scenario above there was no connection because there was no relationship established. We didn’t really communicate because there was no conversation, which should be a two-way versus one-way dialogue. Here’s a different scenario: I attended an event recently, not a “networking event”, but an event in which networking occurred. I didn’t do a series of pitching or trying to sell. Neither did the others. We just spent time learning more about each other, what we did and how we might be of help to each other. It was enjoyable and pleasant. I didn’t feel overwhelmed or bombarded. And I ended up with some really great connections.
Networking allows us to connect on different levels with different people. Yet many are frustrated and intimidated by networking and fail to get the results they want. I believe networking can become more engaging and fun for us all if we remind ourselves of what’s most innate to us because networking is something we do everyday.
We all enjoy connecting. The popularity of social media is all the evidence we need to confirm that. Everyday millions of us log in to some network to connect with friends, family and colleagues. When we do, we communicate freely, sharing updates, good news, inspirational stories, motivational quotes, challenges, messages of hope, our goals, need and wants. We share our hobbies, interests, affiliations, knowledge, and everything in between. When we log in to these accounts we also do so with curiosity. We want to know what our network is up to so we read, listen and learn from posts, tweets, and threads. Then we comment, engage and interact with each other. All natural.
If we take the time to get to know each other, to share and to learn we’ll start to cherish the art of networking and begin to make better, more fruitful connections.
Biz Practitioner
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