Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success

"Setting up a network of contacts is the single most important thing people can do to protect and advance their careers. All businesspeople, no matter what they do for a living, can use networking know-how to reach their goals, and this book is the best place to start. Filled with quizzes, checklists, and sample conversations, the book opens with a Strategic Networking Activities self-assessment test and lets readers chart their increasing skills as they master the strategies needed to effectively build business relationships.

Readers will learn how to avoid the Top 20 Networking Turn-offs, create a workplace contact map, and build strategic alliances. In addition, they'll master the Six Stages of Networking, as well as how to make the most of corporate events and memberships. By the time readers are done, not only will they be able to meet people more easily, but they'll also know how to remember their new contacts' names and follow up effectively! This book is the blueprint to follow for anyone trying to position themselves for career advancement or sales success."

"Make Your Contacts Count is a practical, step-by-step guide for creating, cultivating, and capitalizing on networking relationships and opportunities. Packed with valuable tools, the book offers a field-tested ""Hello to Goodbye"" system that takes readers from entering a room, to making conversations flow, to following up. Updated from its first edition, the book now includes expanded advice on building social capital at work and in job hunting, as well as new case studies, examples, checklists, and questionnaires. Readers will discover how to:

* draft a networking plan

* cultivate current contacts

* make the most of memberships

* effectively exchange business cards

* avoid the top ten networking turn-offs

* share anecdotes that convey character and competence

* transform their careers with a networking makeover

Job-seekers, career-changers, entrepreneurs, and others will find all the networking help they need to supercharge their careers and boost their bottom lines."

Anne Baber (Lenexa, KS) and Lynne Waymon (Silver Spring, MD) are nationally known experts and speakers on business networking. Their previous books include Great Connections: Small Talk and Networking for Businesspeople and How to Fireproof Your Career.

Contents

Preface: Get Ready for State-of-the-Art Networking

The Time Is Right

Are You Ready?

The Contacts Count Networking System

Part I: Survey Your Skills and Mindset

Chapter 1: Assess Your Skills

Chapter 2: Change Your Mindset

Part II: Set Your Strategy

Chapter 3: Teach Trust

Chapter 4: Develop Your Relationships

Chapter 5: Go with Your Goals

Part III: Sharpen Your Skills

Chapter 6: Know the "Netiquette"

Bonus: Ten Tips on the Nuances of "Netiquette"

Chapter 7: Avoid the Top Twenty Turn-Offs

Chapter 8: "Who Are You?"

Chapter 9: "What Do You Do?"

Chapter 10: "What Are We Going to Talk About?"

Chapter 11: Make Conversation Flow

Chapter 12: End with the Future in Mind

Chapter 13: Follow Through

Part IV: Select Your Settings

Chapter 14: Network at Work

Chapter 15: Make It Rain Clients

Chapter 16: (Net)Work from Home

Chapter 17: Make the Most of Your Memberships

Chapter 18: Rev Up Referral Groups

Chapter 19: Connect at Conventions

Chapter 20: Jump-Start Your Job Hunt

Bonus: Manage Your Strategy Support Group

Index

About the Authors