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Good morning, Bizhubbers. This is your weekly dose of unsolicited networking advice. (I get to do that as your community engagement manager!) Today, I’m encouraging an advice share.
What’s the best networking advice you’ve ever gotten? 🤔 – It could be a ‘do’ or a ‘don’t, but please share your golden rule of networking. The best one wins… absolutely nothing except bragging rights!
I’ll go first: Networking is a long game. You get out of it what you put in. You can’t just fire off a few messages and expect instant success. Real networking takes time—it’s about building trust, staying in touch, and offering value. If you treat it like a one-time transaction, you’ll be forgotten pretty quickly.
Over to you – and please don’t leave me hanging like an ignored high-five!
Emma Selby *Flexspace Operator*, Doris Holleufer and 3 others16 Comments-
Work the room – try not to hog one person for the whole event!
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@lisawoolnough Yes! I’m guilty of this in a slightly different way. I go to one of our events with an idea of who I want to talk to. Then get to the end of the session and realise I have just talked (usually at them! 🤣) the same person the whole time.
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@MyGrowthHack ah yes, brilliant advice. Don’t be a networking vampire, taking everything from everyone without offering any real value.
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Think connections! Chances of me requiring the services of the person in front of me are slim. So, I’m always trying to work out if I have other connection that could benefit.
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@Gregory Absolutely! It’s about considering the many ways we can support each other. We might not need a paid service from someone we’re connecting with, but what do they know that we don’t? What advice can we offer them? Maybe it’s feedback on their work or sharing a business tool we find helpful. There’s so much support available that doesn’t involve buying and selling!
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Mine was that you shouldn’t go into a networking event and expect to walk out with new busienss – it may happen some times but as a general rule its all about the long game.
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@GarethTurner ooh, I think I was a bit guilty of this before I actually tried networking! Like I was going to leave the event a lot richer 🤣 I think a lot of people only discover networking when they are at the point that they desperately need more clients. That desperation warps their focus. As you said, it’s not about walking into a room and selling/buying. It’s about making the connections that support your business long-term.
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Best Networking advice? Be a framer not a hunter… Plant seeds and whatch them grow. Also; can you help someone in the room and connect them to someone else in your network? Always good to “pay it forward”…
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@Stu i’m a huge fan of paying it forwards. it’s not only a decent thing to do, but in my experience kindness breeds kindness, and people remember you for that when opportunities arise. There’s also not much that is more fulfilling than seeing those green shoots of opportunity after you have planted those seeds! Great advice, thanks!
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Mine is to set time aside after an event to follow-up, particularly if you promised to do something, like share information or connect on LinkedIn – best to do this as soon as possible after the event while the meeting is still fresh in people’s minds.
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@DorisHolleufer When I did events we used to call it “post gig hygiene” ensuring the customer was completely happy and left with a post gig feeling that they want to book us again. We often got repeat bookings… 🙂
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@Stu I love that term – post gig hygiene – that will be my calendar notation from now on!
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@DorisHolleufer this is great advice – its so easy to rush on to tje next thing and forget all about everyone you met! But the follow up is what makes the networking worthwhile
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@DorisHolleufer Absolutely this! I often feel a bit ‘social’d out’ after an event and if I don’t set aside this time then there is every chance I forget what I had promised to do. So setting that time aside is essential!
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Mine is check your energy before you walk in, smile, and try to add to the enjoyment of the event for others in some way – a compliment, an interested question, a joke – they all help make events a success. If you help people have a good time they will remember you. Just enjoy yourself and the rest will follow !
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@SiGNAL-Emma Great advice. That positive energy is very contagious and helps to ease any nerves in the room. When I am feeling relaxed and positive there is a lot more chance of me having a great experience. I also find that humour helps, and that is one of the things I love about our events. There are some very funny (ha ha, not peculiar!) people in our community, which is fabulous!
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