In a normal week I meet with three to five new people all interested in expanding their personal networks. Most are in job transition trying to uncover the “hidden job market” while many others are prospecting for new business. A few people really understand the networking process, which makes our meetings enjoyable with anticipation of our future. Most treat these meetings as one night stands without focus or purpose. My hope is that more people will follow these guidelines to improve the quality of their networking by building long term relationships.
Rule 1 – Quality is more important than quantity.
Rule 2 – Do what you say.
Rule 3 – Be interested, not interesting.
Rule 4 – Help others be successful.
Rule 5 – Stop keeping track.
Rule 6 – Protect your network.
Rule 7 – Exercise your network.
Rule 8 – Treat others’ networks like gold.
Rule 9 – Clean house. Once per year I will go through my contact list on LinkedIn and see if I can remember the last time I had contact with each person. If I cannot remember then I will make a decision to either reach out and make a contact or delete them from my contact list. To be in your network we need to interact at least once per year or we kidding ourselves about having a true relationship.
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