It's not what you know it's who you know?

Last Friday I attended a very informal networking event and during that two hours I had picked up a new client, met a number of people I had not seen for some time and been asked to be a judge for a business awards.

Furthermore, one of the people I spoke to are now speaking to a potential new client as during our discussion she mentioned someone she wanted to speak to, the connection has now been made and hopefully business will come out of it.

Networking, is very simple, sometimes daunting and always rewarding. Never expect to go and do business there and then. It is all about building relationships and always follow up on who you met by maybe an email(not spamming) or connecting on LinkedIn.

Obviously swap business cards, discuss what you do but never sell. We have all done it, we all make mistakes but learn from it. The other big thing is be a regular attendee, it is no good turning up every now and then you have to be the "Cuddly Toy" of networking! Remember the Generation Game? Everyone remembered and liked the cuddly toy mainly because it was on the show every single week, it was the first thing a contestant mentioned.

That is what you want to be. Always remembered and always liked/respected.