Networking with Colleagues

Networking is generally an excellent way of building business contacts and finding new opportunities. Expanding your circle of business colleagues, who can trust and respect you, can get you referrals as if from nowhere; can give you access to a source of any number of people in need of your services, through people who are glad to refer them to you.

There is a misconception that networking is often a slow way of getting new clients. Whereas, in truth, networking establishes relationships with people, and people always prefer to do business with a person they know, like, and trust. Networking with colleagues is not just handing out a bunch of business cards at meetings, and expecting business to just happen. Networking can and does enrich both work and personal lives; it is almost entirely about relationships.

The process is one of building relationships that will be mutually beneficial and lead to some business being conducted. Mutual benefit and respect for the individual are the foundations for networking as well as for any business relationship. Once you have learned how to create new networks and expand existing networking relationships, your referrals can be virtually endless.

An estimated 70 to 80 percent of all job vacancies are filled by people that employers hear about through word-of-mouth. Getting the maximum amount of mileage that you can, out of professional connections you make the effort to cultivate, is key to a successful networking process. The larger you make your personal network the more likely you are to find out about any positions and opportunities as soon as they become available.

To be successful at networking, try the following few things:

• Tell every one of your friends and colleagues,. as well as business associates and peers that you are looking for either a new position or a consulting project, or some new clients. Try to be as specific as you can while describing exactly what you want.

• Come up with a practiced short sales pitch that can tell people you meet, who you are, and what you are looking for. Let them know, without being over-aggressive and how they can help.

• Go to the professional association meeting, social event, civic or alumni meets. They are good places to network. Don’t forget to bring your business cards, masses of them.

• Always make sure you let your contacts know, early in the call or the letter, that you are calling/writing because you are looking for help. Don’t waste their time going through a long letter or conversation only to find that they are unable or unwilling to do what you want.

• If you have called someone you only know through referral, for the first time, and get an answering machine or voice mail, hang up. Call back later. Leaving a message, trying to explain who you are and what you want can be quite awkward.

• Even when you can get nothing else from a contact, try to at least get one or two names and numbers of people you might contact and permission to use their names as references.

Author's Note:

Do you have any questions about career development or lifestyle changes for Baby Boomers, which you think others, like you, would want to know the answers? Please email your questions to me at Anna@AnnaBanks.com or post a comment to my blog at