Have a plan for networking and stick to it.
Ask for a business card when you meet someone new, and always carry lots of your own cards.
Think through what you will say when someone asks the question – ‘Well, what do you do then’ or ‘Who do you work for.’
Develop a healthy interest in other people’s businesses, ask lots of questions and keep abreast of what’s going on in the world in general. People like to talk to others with shared knowledge and interests.
Keep in touch with your network – but not in a forced way. They need a gentle reminder that you exist but a phone call to say ‘Oh – I just thought I’d give you a call’ is very unlikely to be successful. Instead keep yourself abreast of business issues that might affect people in your network, send them articles that might be of interest to them and point them to websites (especially your own) that contain things that contain helpful information.

DON’T

Network with the wrong type of people – this is quite difficult to determine, especially when you first start out. Some people only want to talk about themselves or their business, never a good sign. We all know people who are really not reliable – no matter how much we like them we’d be reluctant to refer them to others.
Lose touch with contacts.
Flood your network with useless information, nagging phone calls or irrelevant facts.
Spend all your time, with members of your network, talking about yourself or your business.
Give up. Networking like anything else is about patience and persistence. Just because you don’t get any business from a member of your network over the first month or so of contact don’t stop networking with them.

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