Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success - Softcover

Baber, Anne; Waymon, Lynne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814474020 ISBN 13: 9780814474020

Verlag: HarperCollins Leadership, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

This book is a practical, step-by-step guide for creating, cultivating, and capitalizing on networking relationships and opportunities.

Updated from its first edition, Make Your Contacts Count now includes expanded advice on building social capital at work and in job hunting, as well as new case studies, examples, checklists, and questionnaires.

You will discover how to:

• draft a networking plan
• cultivate current contacts
• make the most of memberships
• effectively exchange business cards
• avoid the top ten networking turn-offs
• share anecdotes that convey character and competence
• transform your career with a networking makeover

Job-seekers, career-changers, entrepreneurs, and others will find all the networking help they need to supercharge their careers and boost their bottom lines. Packed with valuable tools, Make Your Contacts Count offers a field-tested "Hello to Goodbye" system that takes you from entering a room, to making conversations flow, to following up.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

ANNE BABER cofounded Contacts Count, an international training firm, 24 years ago.

LYNNE WAYMON cofounded Contacts Count, an international training firm, 24 years ago. They are the authors of Make Your Contacts Count. ANDR' ALPHONSO

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Meeting—and keeping—a network of powerful contacts is the most effective way to further your career or grow your business. So how can you ensure that you are connecting with and impressing the right people? A practical, step-by-step guide for creating, cultivating, and capitalizing on networking opportunities and relationships, this book shows you how to make a memorable entrance, make conversations flow, and follow up.

In this completely revised edition, the authors offer new case studies, examples, checklists, and questionnaires, as well as expanded advice on building social capital at work and in job hunting. Complete with a unique self-assessment test that lets you chart your progress as you master the strategies that will help you build beneficial business relationships, this new edition of Make Your Contacts Count shows you how to set yourself apart from everyone else in the room and:

• create a networking plan • cultivate current contacts • make the most of memberships • share anecdotes that convey character and competence • avoid the top ten networking turn-offs • and transform your career with a networking makeover. With Make Your Contacts Count, the tools to supercharge your career and boost your bottom line lie right in your hands.

ANNE BABER and LYNNE WAYMON lead Contacts Count, a consulting and training firm for business and career networking. Their previous books include the first edition of Make Your Contacts Count, and How to Fireproof Your Career.

Praise for the first edition of Make Your Contacts Count:

“This is the definitive book on person-to-person networking. It's a complete methodology, i.e., step-by-step ’cookbook,’ on how to network.”—Business Ledger

“…well written and very compelling. If you read this book, you will be dusting off your meeting suit.”—Central New York Business Journal

“This book is the networking blueprint, a must-read for anyone on the hunt for sky's-the-limit professional success.”—Bizlife

“If you're serious about building your business, start right here.“ —Terri Lonier, Founder, WorkingSolo.com

“The best reference book for new networking ideas.”—Beth Barnett, Director of Business Development, TeraTech Inc

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Make Your Contacts Count

By Anne Baber

AMACOM Books

Copyright © 2007 Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8144-7402-0

Chapter One

Assess Your Skills

Taking the Self-Assessment in this chapter will give you an overview of your specific networking behaviors, attitudes, and strategies.

This exercise will help you.

* Test your current level of mastery of state-of-the-art networking behaviors and beliefs.

* Increase your awareness of the vast repertoire of skills and strategies available to you as you build business relationships.

* Remind yourself of some techniques that you know but don't use as much as you could.

* Pinpoint topics you want to focus on to increase your impact, professionalism, and comfort.

* Verify your increased competency when you take the quiz again, after you've made The Contacts Count Networking System a way of life.

Instructions

As you go through the Self-Assessment, we want you to know how we define some of the terms we've used. Then, you'll need to know how to select your answers. Finally, after you are finished with the Self-Assessment, you'll need to know how to assess your mastery and decide what to do next.

Defining Some Terms

Networking Event: All those business, quasi-business, and social situations in which you have opportunities to develop valuable connections.

Organization: Any group you join for the purpose of making business connections (professional association, Chamber of Commerce, alumni group, business referral group, board, etc.).

Company: Who you work for (your firm, your agency, your sole proprietorship, etc.).

Selecting Your Answers

Below, you'll find eight sections: Observing the "Netiquette," Assessing Your Comfort Level, Being Strategic, Meeting People, Using Networking Organizations, Making the Most of Events, Achieving Bottom-Line Results, and Following Through. Each section concentrates on a specific area of the networking experience. The statements in each section focus on what you believe about networking and what you do and say when you are networking. For each statement, check one of the following as your response:

Rarely for 0 to 20 percent of the time Sometimes for 20 to 50 percent of the time Frequently for 50 to 80 percent of the time Almost Always for 80 to 100 percent of the time

With each section, you'll find a commentary that will help you in your self-assessment.

Observing the "Netiquette"

Observing the "Netiquette"

I talk to discover reasons to hand out my business card.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

As I talk with someone, I'm trying to figure out a reason to give him my business card and get his.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I sense when I can begin talking about what I can offer or what my company provides.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I'm comfortable joining a group of people who are already talking.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I consciously work at talking only about 50 percent of the time.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I find interesting ways to say thank you when someone gives me a resource or referral.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

If a contact doesn't reciprocate, I skillfully and tactfully point out how she can help me.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

Look back at your answers as you consider these comments.

If you've ever had an awkward moment as you engaged in a networking activity, you know how daunting it is to feel as if you don't know what to do. As you learn the skills and techniques-and the rationales behind them-you'll find that you'll rarely find yourself in a situation you can't handle with aplomb and confidence.

Handing out lots of business cards isn't networking. See Chapter 6 for the rest of the story.

Do you worry about seeming too pushy? Too passive? If you're too pushy, you'll turn people off. If you're too passive, you won't get much out of networking.

When you're approaching a group, are you mentally back at the eighth grade dance, wondering if people will snub you? If you know the steps for joining (not breaking into) a group, you'll be able to do it with ease. The process appears in Chapter 6.

Do you, out of nervousness, find yourself chattering away, dominating the conversation? Or do you have a hard time holding up your end of the conversation with Success Stories and important topics to talk about? Give and take is basic to networking. Besides, you have to listen to learn what your contact needs. Chapter 7 will help you avoid all the top 20 networking turn-offs.

Do you say, "Thanks!" in ways that make you memorable, yet are appropriate? Corporate cultures, for example, differ. Appropriate ways to say thank you in IBM are bound to be different from what's done at an ad agency.

Great connectors observe and learn the "netiquette" in particular organizations from the members of those organizations. You can always ask the advice of a mentor at work, when deciding how to say, "Thanks!" Or, you can watch the pros in your association to figure out how quickly it's appropriate to "talk business" with potential clients at the meetings.

Do you sometimes feel that you are the only one in the relationship who is giving? Do you know what to do about that?

Assessing Your Comfort Level

Assessing Your Comfort Level

I feel professional and comfortable when I'm networking.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I'm energized and excited as I enter a room full of people.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

Networking is something I want to do, not just something I have to do.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

I can talk easily about my successes.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

When I talk with people, I find out something of interest to me.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

At networking events, I can think of plenty of meaningful topics to talk about.

Rarely____ Sometimes____ Frequently___ Almost Always____

Look back at your answers as you consider these comments.

Networking has emerged as a respected business and career skill. Why, then, does it sometimes feel uncomfortable?

Few families today sit down to a long Sunday dinner where Uncle Charlie tells stories and Grandma chimes in with reminiscences. Good conversational skills are learned. Few people are born with the gift of gab. But anybody can learn how to use conversation to build networking relationships.

Often, the "ground rules" for networking are unclear. Because it's a "hidden" career and business skill that you're just expected to know, many people are unsure about what's considered professional.

In some circles, networking is mistakenly equated with hot-dogging, tooting your own horn, or grandstanding. Some people say, "I shouldn't have to network. My good work should stand on its own without my having to promote myself." But who will...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: HarperCollins Leadership
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0814474020
• ISBN 13: 9780814474020
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: HarperCollins; https://harpercollins.co.uk; ; "The News Building 1 London Bridge Street,"; London; SE1 9GF; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland