The Topmost Secret To The Top Of Your Career!

Networking means expanding contacts to build strong relationships.Smart business people know the value of networking. They understand that the more people you know in different industries, businesses and functions, the easier it will be for you to find the right connection when you need it.

There are several known ways to widen your circle of contacts by improving networking strategy:Offer help,end meetings you are attending by asking other attendees if there is anything you can do for them.

Communicate and elaborate your unique knowledge and expertise to others. Let them know what you know and what it can do for them. Do this from a position of support, not competitiveness.

Do not be afraid to share your own personal contacts judiciously. If you have a contact that can provide a product or service to another contact, facilitate communication between them. If you have nothing to lose by helping one contact solve another contact's problem - the most successful participant in this scenario is you!


Always appear approachable and willing to talk. Present an air of friendliness and helpfulness. If people are afraid or reluctant to approach you, the risk of not connecting with potentially valuable contacts is great.

In the event someone helps you in any way, always remember to write a personal thank-you. People who actually do assist you deserve to be thanked in an appropriate manner. Never risk the perception of appearing ungrateful. Always remember to thank those who should be thanked.

Follow through on your commitments. If you said you would do something or be somewhere, make sure you do so. Never let a commitment slide or be ignored. Not only is it insulting to the other people involved, you risk acquiring the reputation of being unreliable.

Take action to change your situation now. Kgreat.

Great write-up.

I was very blessed.

Kgreat

I quite agree with your summation on networking. Most established individuals/business personalities we know and hear of today used this strategy to a great length in their success story. However, i will add that beyond meeting people and establishing a networking relationship, most people dont know that managing their personal image to create a positive look and feel (charming, friendly, intelligent e.t.c.) goes a long way to determine how well people will be willing to relate and maintain contact with you. I learnt in my early years that image management creates the kind of value that brand equity has for a well managed product and i have used this a great deal to my advantage. Peeps, don't get me wrong, it's got nothing to do with how rich or poor you are, it's got more to do with how you present yourself to the public. We all know that a bottle of coke in a street corner will not be the same price as a bottle of coke in a five star hotel.

To drive my point closer home; back in my master class days, an opening came up for call center agents in my firm (vmobile), i had an opportunity to submit C.Vs, ofcourse it was natural that i only told my course mates whom i was friends with (network). The catch was, the screening process had aspects that considered personal appearance, carriage and phonetics. Ofcourse, the ones that didn't manage this aspects of themselves didn't make it to the next stage. Just one person came out of it successful and for real, she met this criterias. Even in interviews, people look out for this and i really believe that it goes a long way.

thanks everyone for this useful piece of info, please mr vikumo do you know of any materials one could use to better manage their image.

egenash,

Managing ones' image starts with as little as keeping a good personal hygine, wearing clean (not neccessarily expensive) ironed clothes that "fits" and looks smart on you. Ideally, these are part of our daily activities that people take for granted and you don't require a lot of money to do them.

As for books on personal/image management; there are many books that deals with different aspects of it e.g. you'll get books on public speaking, negotiation skills, actitudes e.t.c. Books in this category are like building blocks, as you learn several topics covering different aspects, you would be on the right track.

However, not everybody learns from reading books. Some people learn from personal experience and the environment they find themselves. Also people learn from role models/public personalities that presents the kind of image they want.

Lastly, use the internet (search engine) to search for materials on personal image management, you'll be suprised at the amount of information/guide that you will have at your disposal.

Hope this helps.

thanks man i really appreciate, u have been of great help.