SEO | Website Design | Internet Marketing | Adcuda Kansas City

I had a really great meeting this afternoon that got me thinking about smoozing, er, networking. My entire job is to network: to meet people, chat ‘em up, hear their story and tell them ours.

So, I sat down with another ‘business communicator’ (ummm, sales rep) today that I met on Linked-In and lunched with at a recent conference. This particular contact (oh, let’s just call her Bonnie from Proffer Productions) is really good at networking. Now, I don’t mean that she is super at handing out business cards or approaching strangers in the elevator to talk about video (though I’ll bet she is). It’s so much more than that — she has a different approach. What I was particularly taken with was how she asked questions. In addition to the standard, ‘hey, tell me about Adcuda’ she wanted to discuss our ideal client base, our goals and our struggles. We had an actual conversation — meaning we didn’t just spout features and benefits back and forth across a table. We connected. Our conversation focused much less on how we could sell one another, but on how we might be able to help the other through our own personal networks.

We all have vast networks that we engage in every day — work, school, home, friends, flickr, your drycleaner, etc. Being a connector is about introducing people in our networks based on the belief that they might be able to help each other. Really simple and often takes very little effort.

Your challenge (and mine) is to connect. Think of someone you know right now. What do they do? Who in your network might be a good connection for them? Now take two seconds out of your life and shoot a quick email and make the introduction. The next steps are up to them.

So, who did you connect? Add your story here and you never know, you might just find a connection for yourself!