Saw this little gem of a post over at DLM and it reminded me of some of the great things I’ve learned about networking:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/02/stop-networking-and-start-building.html

1. Do not seek out people to sell them something. Also known as - Make friends and then sell your friends something if they are interested. Friends last a lot longer that pipelines, quotas and sales. You need friends to make more friends. You need friends to grow and learn. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village of friends and luck to raise a business. Focus Information Technology Consulting (http://allaboutfocus.com) continues to experience amazing growth every year because I take the time to learn intimate details about all of the people that I meet (and I meet ALOT of people). And then if the oppourtunity ever presents itself I might have a chance to do business with  these friends that I am making. But work on the friendship first. It will last a lot longer than the sale ever will.

2. Network like crazy. I seek out every business event, social event, VC event, etc in Oklahoma City and make it to every one I can - Even if it means I need to sacrafice my hourly income. My goal is to meet as much of the Oklahoma City business community as possible. Not just know their names. But know their faces, their families, and their needs and desires. I track all of these details in various places, but mostly in my CRM system. These people are going to introduce me to other people that I don’t know, etc. ,etc. ad nauseum. In the long term I want all of these people to know what I do in case they know anybody that ever needs my services. I am throwing alot of spaghetti against the wall every single day. More of it is sticking every day.
3. If you have business cards sitting around you are wasting money. I actually heard this from somebody once “I am very careful about giving out my business cards because they were expensive and I need to keep them for as long possible”. Are you kidding me? Every business card sitting in the box is wasted money as long as it keeps sitting there. I give them out the EVERYBODY. Cashiers that take my money at Starbucks, people I meet at nightclubs, my bankers (even though they want MY business). I even give them out to people I already have contracts with. When I get a new set my goal is to get rid of them as soon as possible.

As I finished off number three I realized that I have about 100 more in the back of my head. Sounds like I need to do some more posting about this. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts via comments below.