Two books have been influential in teaching me networking skills. The first was one I read when I first went out on my own. This was Swim with the Sharks: Without Being Eaten Alive; Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate and Outnegotiate Your Competition. Mackay also wrote Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need
. Both are excellent books for learning networking skills. More recently Keith Ferrazzi wrote Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time and 
Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail. Both excellent resources as well. If you had to pick one I would most likely follow Ferrazzi in Never Eat Alone.
2 comments:
Mike- I love the vlog. I agree that social media is the tool that aids in networking. When I got started, and even now to some degree, I use social media sites as my way to network. As someone with young kids, it is rarely possible for me to get out to local events to network. And, when I do, I probably meet ten people at most. So, it's not extremely effective in terms of how to use my time.
Social media has provided the platform for me to "meet" and learn about people all around the globe. Then, we take the next step of picking up the phone. To me, this is networking. I can build relationships and have a network of colleagues I can reach out to at any time (yourself included). The best part is eventually meeting in person. By then, it feels like seeing an old friend at a reunion and not like meeting for the first time at all. Social media helps provide the best networking opportunity for me.
Hey Trish.. I might disagree with you when you say that meeting only ten people is not extremely effective in terms of your time. It may be if the 10 connections made were quality connections. Networking, as you know, is not really about the quantity of connections, but the quality of them instead. And the use of social medial can help insure that the connection would be one of quality.
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