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I always love getting advice from fellow expert networkers, so I thought I’d curate a few top tips from top networkers from across the country, from Dublin to Donegal, and lots of places in between.
I didn’t give any cues or set a preface for these tips, so they are random, but all worthy of your attention.
Manage Expectations
Seek to Serve
Be Social
Be Interested
Don’t Sell
Ask Questions
As a way of remembering, use the acronym F O R M, as in Family, Organisation, Recreation and Motivation.
Some examples are:
- Have you got children?
- What ages are they?
- Are you involved in GAA or Rugby or ACCA…whatever?
- What do you do at the weekend or to relax?
- Why are you attending or what do you hope to learn here?
Create Value
Siobhan Fitzpatrick from The Networking Hub tell us to equate your networking transactions to your bank account transactions. She gives some wise advice:
You would never ask a bank where you don’t yet have an account for a loan. So why would you ‘make an ask’ of a new contact or someone you don’t yet have a relationship with, for anything?
Invest your time and energy into building relationships, just as you would in building you ank balance. Give before you take. Create the value before looking to extract it.
Listen
Business mentor extraordinaire, Amanda Delaney from We Can & We Will says, ‘Listen more than you talk. Be more interested in others. How can you add value to the people you meet?’
Connect
Evelyn Mc Glynn from Evelyn Mc Marketing and PRO Donegal Women in Business Network. says “Lets Meet For A Coffee” (virtual or otherwise) and “I am connecting you with…” should be uttered or typed by you at least four times a week!
Get into the habit of bringing people together and supporting what they can bring to one another, with no real agenda of personal gain for yourself, although that does organically happen!
The more you do it the more it becomes a habit and it will be something you will become known for, which in turn will bring more and more people to connect and engage with you. But remember to do it authentically and always give more than take.
To Conclude
I enjoy getting tips from my fellow networkers. As a collective, we’ve learned from those who went before us, those who made mistakes and learned as they went along. It’s my hope that you enjoy the tips and I’ll look to showcase more great tips in the coming blogs, so keep an eye out!
Connecting With NetworkingJeanie
You can reach out to me at hello@networkingjean.ie.
Getting Social
Do connect in with me on Linkedin and Instagram. (I’m also on Twitter and Pinterest)
Let’s keep the #networking conversation going!
Mailing List
You can join my mailing list too and I’d love to have you on board.
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