It never ceases to amaze me what I discover as I learn more about my colleagues and clients.

You can know someone for years and after all those conversations suddenly discover they are involved with a charity you want to support. Or they know the CEO at a business you’ve been trying to find an “in” with. Or they have a niche area of expertise you had no idea they had.

“You do that kind of work, too?! Wow, I didn’t realize.”

When you’ve built trust and connected on a more personal level you can begin to discover ways to connect with each others’ networks in a very authentic way.

I mean, it’s one thing to get the email address for a contact, it’s quite another to have a personal endorsement made to a personal friend of theirs. It’s often the cherished contacts that are the most valuable and the ones that are only offered when you have a genuine relationship. And, it goes both ways. You too are more inclined to only connect colleagues with your innermost circle when there’s a high level of trust involved.

It pays to strengthen your existing business relationships, and to continually work to cultivate new ones. It also pays to weed out the ones that are no longer working for you.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

Experience, hard word and talent are not enough to succeed in today’s workplace. You need to also focus on building a network that will bring you the success you want. Your career will likely span multiple jobs and fields and the best and fastest way to get where you want to be is having a network of people you can call on. Building an effective network takes time, planning and intention. Here are 5 rules that will help you out:

1. Talk to strangers. You never know who is standing behind you at Starbucks.
2. Build a network with intention; create a plan of the types of people you want to meet and work the plan.
3. Give as much as you get; don’t be stingy about looking for ways to help others out. This will repay itself many times over when you need a helping hand.
4. Reach out to people long before you need anything; do not be that person who only ever calls when they need something. That is not networking – that is using people and you will not be appreciated for it. Stay in touch regularly with the people in your network.
5. Ask for what you want, not what you think you can get. The simple act of asking will get you a lot more than you can ever imagine.

Remember: success does not come to those with a low tolerance for risk or those who are led by fear. Start talking to people – you will be surprised what you learn!

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

Social networking sites let you build your brand and connect with new partners and customers where they are – online. But to do it well, you have to be organized.

Many business owners think they’ll be wasting time on activities on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere that may not lead shortly to cash-in-hand. But you can avoid that if you have a system and keep a schedule.

Let’s imagine that your goal is just to build targeted web traffic. Let’s also assume you’ve already got a blog where you post at least somewhat regularly. Make sure you schedule time both for getting content and publishing. Don’t procrastinate.

Next, you create a Twitter account. From here, you post links from your blog automatically using third-party tools like Twitterfeed. You do the same thing with your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts using tools like Ping.fm. It’s sort of like being on several TV channels at the same time. People are clicking and coming to your website. It can be great exposure, but it can only happen if you take some time to do these things systematically.

Just like with other parts of your business, using the right tools and staying organized will help ensure your social networking efforts meet the goals that you set.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

A big part of automating your business means being tech savvy. Name an administrative business function and you’ll probably find a free, or inexpensive, online tool to get it done. Google alone has dozens of apps you can use to organize, create, promote and network.

A few of my favorite tech tools for business include:

GTDMail

This email service provides simple workflow that transforms emails into tasks, enabling you to process them much more efficiently. Create categories like Follow Up, Read and Action for various types of responses. Create a Snooze folder so you can have the email re-delivered to you when it’s convenient.

Jott

Imagine having a private secretary following you around 24/7, transcribing all your thoughts so you can retrieve your ideas at any time. With Jott, you can record messages on your cellphone and have the messages sent to Outlook as sound files or transcribed and sent to your email.

Sticky Notes

Lots of people still use the paper sticky notes to help remind them of important tasks. Digital sticky notes fulfill the same purpose on your computer, without adding to your clutter. You can insert hyperlinks into them to make them more useful.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Just as you clear out your closets, basements and garages from time to time, it’s important to clear out your network once a year.

Of course, I don’t mean clearing out everything in your database with the delete key, unless you’ve decided to close your business and run off somewhere to start a new life. This is the time to make sure your distribution lists are up to date.

Of all the contacts listed in your contacts organizing applications, are there a few that just don’t belong anymore? Perhaps someone who you met once at an event and soon after wrote a rude letter demanding to be taken off your email newsletter list?

That said, one never knows when business opportunities will arise, since the seeds you plant can take a long time to grow. Rather than deleting the information about your low-activity contacts, categorize your contacts into varying degrees of “hot” and “cold”. This will ensure you are able to keep an eye on the low-hanging fruit while still ensuring that you’ve got the information you need when the person you met eight months ago at a fundraiser – and who didn’t respond to any of your follow-up messages or marketing collateral — calls out of the blue to ask about your services.

- Linda Chu, CEO – Out of Chaos

After you meet people at networking events, you come away with a targeted handful of business contacts. But are you prepared with the proper follow-up tools?

Take the time to build information templates which can be customized for each contact. Trust me, I remember those days when a phone call or an email comes in and I was scrambling to re-create the wheel when it came to organizing my contacts information. But with the tools business people have been using for years, from social networks like LinkedIn to your laptop’s built-in address book, it’s easy to keep track.

But don’t just keep track. Engage your new contacts. Put some thought into the following promotional pieces:

1. Templates for email follow-up after a networking event.
2. General information on your company
3. Marketing pieces for your product / service
4. Fee schedules
5. Terms and conditions of engagement / contact

Investing some time (and dollars) in creating these foundational pieces will allow you time to nurture your contacts and keep you and your business at the top of their mind.

- Linda Chu, CEO – Out of Chaos

Women network differently than men.  Women tend to share more about their personal lives in addition to their professional lives.

Certainly for me, after I meet a new contact, (I’m a scribbler and take notes in meetings and phone conversations). I jot down information like:

1. Name of partner
2. Number of kids – their ages – names
3. Pets
4. Vacation plans, dates
5. Special dates like birthdates, anniversaries

Of course, I also keep notes on services and products that my contacts may be in need of. But the conversation can include everything from home renovations to website design, to the best sushi place in the city.

Positive results come in the form of using this information to build relationships with your networks.  Don’t underestimate the impact it makes when you send a note to someone, welcoming them back from a vacation or following through with the name of a great service provider.

Every correspondence you make that is genuine makes that networking connection stronger. When it comes down to it, businesses are the people that run them. Making a personal connection helps you network effectively and create opportunities in your life.

- Linda Chu, CEO – Out of Chaos

I was speaking to a coaching client the other day who told me she can’t network because she is not outgoing enough. I hear that a lot. People often dread networking because they are shy and not outgoing social butterflies. I’ve built a successful business with networking; I have landed clients, opened doors, and made valuable connections that have created revenue for my company.

And I am an introvert by nature.

For years I struggled with overwhelming shyness when it came to going to networking events or asking for what I wanted. I know how uncomfortable it can feel to walk through that door or how awkward you can feel when trying to make small talk with a stranger. But I have learned some tools that make me feel more comfortable in these situations. Since this month’s topic is about building a strong network for business success, I am going to share these tips with you, so you can’t use being an introvert as an excuse to not make time for networking any longer. By the end of December you should be a networking diva!

- Fiona Walsh
CEO, FM Walsh & Associates