10 Tips for Top Networking

Édition : Mulhouse/Sud-Alsace - 10 mars 2012

Ce mois-ci, l’article explore les 10 règles du parfait “réseauteur“.

Now that you are attending events, linking up to thousands of “friends” on the internet, how do you make these work for your business? Especially if you are an introvert ? Diane Darling runs Effective Networking out of Boston, U.S.A and trains people to network successfully and create ambassadors for their organizations. She offers her top 10 tips for networking :

1. You need to understand what networking really is. It is not selling and not schmoozing. It is about building relationships before you need them and about transference of trust.

2. Use on-line tools such as Facebook and Linked-in to prepare for events. Research who is going, who you want to meet and what you can learn about them before hand.

3. Always have business cards to exchange and a notebook with you

4. Attend events with a networking buddy. It is less daunting than going alone and you can introduce each other to your contacts.

5. Think about who you can introduce someone else to, rather than who can I meet? If you make helpful introductions, people will want to do the same for you. Ask people them about themselves rather than launching into a hard pitch about yourself.

6. Helping out at events makes it much easier for you to enter into conversation with other people.

7. Follow up after events and update your database regularly. You need a good database such as Bigcontacts.com or Nimble.com which can integrate with Facebook, Twitter etc.

8. Split your contacts into three categories for follow up: A- your Action list, B -Your lunch list (people you enjoy spending time with), C -your “whoever, whenever” list (people you put on the back burner).

9. Don’t over network. You can’t be everywhere all the time. Ask yourself how you are connected to an event and what you can contribute.

10. Make sure you don’t have bad breath! If someone offers you a mint, say yes!

Diane Darling has published two books which have been translated into 7 languages: The Networking Survival Guide and Networking for Career success. You can follow her on her blog: https://dianedarling.typepad.com/

Sarah Lesage
formatrice et rédactrice en anglais – saklesage@gmail.com, 06 15 28 43 48

Vocabulary Schmooze : flagorner Buddy : un copain/pote Daunting : intimidant Hard pitch : hard sell Whoever / whenever : quiconque / n’importe quand On the backburner : en veilleuse