6 Proven Secrets for Authentic Networking

Apparently “Networking” is hard. But we all know people who are good at it: Tony Abott, Bill Shorten, Sir Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffett. You don’t have to like them but you can admire them for their success at managing their networks of people. You can do it too. Networking is only hard if you don’t prepare for success. Here are my six secrets so you can be successful at your next networking event.

For some people networking seems to come very easily. They enter a room and start talking to people and walk out with a bunch of useful embryonic relationships. They come across as authentic and people what to associate with them. You can tell they have passion and want to make a change to the world. So how do they achieve this? Over a period of time they have learnt how to network and they improve their performance each time they go to any event – wedding, pub, supermarket, etc. You know some people who are good at this personally and read about them all the time in the media.

To be brilliant you only need to be 80% as good as them, so start with some simple principles and work on improving one thing each time. To get you started, here are six ways to start with:

1. Prepare for the event. Find out if there are people you want to see. Have something to say for twenty seconds which describes why the person in front of your should talk to you. Think of some uncommon questions to ask. For example, asking “What is the best thing that happened to you today?” can change the flavour of the conversation. Networking is all about building relationships which means knowing more than just the business of someone else so be prepared to talk about other subjects (but be careful not to rant)!
2. Research the events to attend. Decide which events are worth attending – generally paid are better than free. Be positive.
3. Dress well. If you dress well it makes you feel good. When you feel good, that impacts the person you're going to approach. Julie Hyne can help you on this if you needs some tips.
4. Take a Business Cards to give people so they remember who you are. While I’m thinking about it, make your Business Card easy to use. Leave space (on the back perhaps) for people to write on and choose something that everyone can write on. How else will people remember what you asked them to do for you?
5. Find out how you can help them and do so (perhaps write it on the back of their Business Card but if you do this, make sure you don't do it in front of them - this can be a cultural no-no). Be attentive and focused on them (i.e. don’t answer your phone, check the time, look over their shoulder, etc.). If you truly want to build a connection with this person, get them to tell you why you should contact them.
6. Send thank you note. If they help you, acknowledge them in your social media. And keep good records. Identify benefit of the contact to you and rate them so you can decide how often to contact them later. A simple rating system may be: Introducer, Might be helpful, Unlikely to be helpful, Dangerous. Follow up with an invite to coffee or simply send a reminder email.

And if that is not enough, enjoy it. Smile. If you get three good conversations in an evening you are doing well. Give yourself a pat on the back. You've done well.