Try These Simple Networking Strategies
Networking as a practice hasn’t been forgotten over the years, although it has largely moved to the online realm. We value social media for maintaining our professional connections, but we remain committed to in-person relationship-building as well. The Grateful Rose’s outreach approach relies on real-world engagement, and so too do our networking methods. Here are some examples:
- We Gather Background Information: Whenever we attend a social or industry event, we collect details about who will be present and learn about the companies they represent. These efforts help us decide who we’d most like to meet – and come up with some relevant ice-breakers.
- We Bring Our Own Supporting Documents: Depending on our goals for each event, we carry plenty of our own resources. These include Grateful Rose business cards, brief résumés, endorsements, contact information from references, samples of our work, and more.
- We Prepare for Follow-Up: Follow-up is one of the ways to ensure that our networking efforts are worthwhile. We work hard to foster connections, after all, so we want to keep them alive. We jot down details about the people we meet and review our notes when we reach out to our new contacts. Doing so helps us personalize our emails, phone calls, and text messages.
These strategies put us on track for networking success.