How to excel in Art of Net-Working
Ok first of all i am sorry for the late post have been travelling a lot with 2 big family functions in radar recently and thus couldn't concentrate on posting, i have been getting your comments and emails and it inspires me more and more. Now, as far as this post is concerned, "Net-Working isn't working on the Net" LOL :P Networking is something every entrepreneur has to be very good at, it is one of the most most important criteria to excel in business. You never know who, where and when will come upto you with the next major break through, even if nothing major comes up, you will atleast get to learn so much talking to different people and learning about their lives and ventures and struggles.
My 2 cousin brothers are getting married and like every Indian wedding theres lots of ceremonies and people coming and eating, so opportunities like this is perfect to get to know people and build contacts, you never know that long distant uncle of yours maybe the supplier you were looking for! So i took this opportunity to talk to many people in these functions getting to know about them and their businesses, thus this post will help you to excel in this very act of "NetWorking"
- Have your objective clear: With this what i mean is, you should know what/whom are you looking for, are you looking for an investor or a co-founder or a supplier or mentor. If you know whats on your mind, things will be easier and you will save a lot of time.
- Get a stag entry: Most of us would like to visit such events with a partner or a friend but its better to go alone, this way you will get bored and to avoid the embarrassment of standing alone by the speaker, you will end up talking to someone. being an introvert doesn't help these days, you will have to outreach yourself to win that export order you have your eyes on.
- Cast a web: More the interactions you make, greater will be a chance of benefiting from that occasion. Studies show that 5 to 7 minutes is more than enough to know how much will this particular conversation benefit you, so calculate accordingly and avoid distractions {both beer and babes :D}
- Feed-in reminders: Its not possible to remember everyone you meet and talk in such gatherings so its better you make short notes of people and their details using abbreviations, best place to scribble in at the back of business cards or better if you have a note pad app in your smart phone, also to avoid awkward situations do this privately in a corner or at rest room.
- Follow up: The most important of them all. Few months down the line none of you will remember anything, so use mediums like Linkedin or facebook or twitter to stay in touch, this also helps to build long term contacts and get invitations to similar gatherings.
Use these tools to increase your horizons and build contacts as you can never predict who comes to your rescue at what situation.
Cheers
Akash Poddar
akashpoddar@live.com