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While most networking is done at venues where you’re meeting new people for the first time, networking isn’t just about meeting new people in order to fill your pipeline with potential clients.

Whenever our agency starts a makeover project the first thing we focus on is your current relationships.This is often referred to as "you're low hanging fruit" because they're the easiest groups of people to gain access to.

Who is in your contact base? How’d you meet them? Where is the relationship right now? In almost every situation we've come across these contacts have either been poorly networked or simply not leveraged at all.

Considering how you are usually one click away on the Web from ordering just about anything you want or at least finding out information on anything you want it's safe to say that the power of choice resides in the hands of your customer and not necessarily you. Add this to the fact that the average consumer today shows less loyalty to the companies they do business with and it's clear that nothing is more important to your business, let alone your networking success than cultivating, leveraging and growing your contact base.

You may be saying, “My contact base is too small to be of any real use.” In actuality, it’s probably a lot bigger than you think, even if you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur. Take for a moment and consider the following list:

* Clients (past & present)

* Prospects (past & present)

* Strategic Partners-Alliances

* Vendors

* Colleagues (past & present)

* Family & Friends

* People whose business cards you still have but have done nothing with

* Associations & organizations you’re a member of (think of the member list you probably have access to)

Everyone of these contacts have their own network of people they do business with. You can tap into and leverage these vast networks by using the same techniques you’ll discover with the five stages of successful networking below. The question isn’t just who is in your database but who should you target first?

When it comes to targeting, however, there needs to be a plan or system behind your efforts. If not, you'll easily find yourself succeeding by accident, if you succeed at all. With that in mind, here are the five stages of successful networking, which act as a fool proof system for creating successful networking results by design.

1. Game Plan

• What is your intention? This is the first step in preparing your game plan.

• Make a list of action items you'd like to achieve based upon your intention.

• Know the questions you want to ask of those you come across.

• Assume the questions that others would ask of you and be prepared to answer them.

• Have your business cards ready. You’d think this was a foregone conclusion but after spending anytime networking you know it’s not as more and more people seem to be networking without the most basic of tools. Treat your business card like your credit card – never leave home/office without them – even if you’re in the middle of creating new cards with updated info. 

2. Greet

• Enter a room with open body language rather than defensive. Your physiology will go a long way to attracting people or repelling them.

• Make eye contact. You’d be surprised how many professionals make eye contact for longer than a few seconds. Whatever your eyes are on your ears are likely to be there too.

• Smile. It breeds confidence in you and those you speak with. Not to mention it will place others at ease as well as placing yourself at ease.

• Be the first to introduce yourself. This shows a genuine interest in others. Most people do not feel comfortable networking so if you don’t engage others first you may find yourself meeting very few people.

• Be the first to extend your hand for a handshake. This is literally and figuratively the first contact people will have with you so make it genuine.  

3. Connect

• Find a common point of interest between yourself and those you speak with. Leverage this commonality in a genuine manner. People like those they can relate to.

• The easiest way to uncover commonalities between you and those you meet (outside of asking good questions) is to listen and not daydream. It’s true, we’ve all be guilty of doing this. Think about those times when someone tells us their name and we forget it because we aren’t paying attention.

• Focus not only on what someone can do for you or your business, but more importantly, focus on ways you can help them. This will significantly increase the chances of your encounter ultimately paying dividends for you and the other person.

4. Communicate

• Follow the 80/20 rule. Speak 20% of the time – listen 80%.  And when you do communicate speak to others the way they want to be communicated with. Not only will you need to determine the type of personality you're meeting with, but you will want to understand your own preferred style of speaking.

• Discover all you can about other people by asking specific questions that allow them to talk about themselves and their company. This is an extension of connecting with others in a genuine and engaging manner.

• Keep your questions from being outwardly “salesy”. People will be more prone to answer honestly if they feel you care more about them than you do in trying to make a sale.

• Make each conversation count. This may mean you end up having a five minute or longer conversation with someone. Contrary to what some people believe effective networking is not about how many people you meet but the quality of people you meet.  

5. Follow Up

• Remain in constant contact with those you meet. Design a system for yourself to remember to re-connect with people.

• Make your follow through genuine and timely. Timeliness can and often does mean the difference between enhancing a relationship or losing one.

No matter how well you communicate and interact with others, your ability to produce excellent results will suffer greatly without excellent follow through.