Personality Traits
1. Be enthusiastic (about yourself, your work and the company you represent). Walk into that room with your head held high and tell yourself you have as much right to be there as everyone else. Show passion the way you help your clients with your service or product and have pride in the organisation you represent.
2. Be organised i.e. plan and prepare before attending events. Don’t just tun up. Ask questions like.
– Who is going to be there?
– How am I going to get there…and back?
– What is the format of the event
– Which dress/suit shall I wear?
– When does it start and end?
– Why have I been invited and what is expected of me?
– Where is it and the parking or the railway station?
3. Be a nice person. Be friendly, polite, courteous, open and respectful to everyone. When you’re nice to people 99%+ will reciprocate and you will have a good time. Move on quickly from the tiny percentage of rude people; they’re not worth bothering with.
4. Be generous… and have a giving spirit. Don’t think ‘What’s in it for me’ but ‘What’s in it for you?’ The kindest gift you can give is your full attention by listening carefully and being genuinely interested. Networking is about building relationships ; you can’t do that effectively when people don’t like you …or vice-versa.
5. Be reliable to build trust. Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’ll do it. Having met someone and you promise to call, send them some information or broker an introduction do it and do it quickly. Speed stuns …a greta way to geta relationship off the ground quickly.
6. Be persistent if you spot an opportunity. Don’t hear ‘no’ only ‘not yet’.
7. Be patient — it takes time to build relations.
Personal Qualities and Skills
8. Ask the right questions. When you do this, you’ll get better answers and create more business opportunities.
9. Listen actively. We learn nothing by talking, only by listening.
10. Get your timings right. Know when to talk, when to listen; when to move into groups when to leave; when to follow up and at what intervals.
The author of this article is Will Kintish, leading UK authority on effective and confident networking both offline and online. If you’d like Will to speak at your conference or training workshops, call him on 0161 773 3727. Visit www.kintish.co.uk and www.linkedintraining.co.uk for further free and valuable information on all aspects of networking
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