SUCCESFUL

NETWORKING IN 7
SIMPLE STEPS
 CREATING NETWORKING
OPPORTUNITIES
‘The richest people in the world look for
and build networks, everyone else looks
for work.’
–Robert T- Kiyosaki, Author
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Know your reasons for networking
• Re-acquaint yourself with people you already
know
• Value both close friends and acquaintances
• Give, without expecting anything in return
• Learn how to measure your networking results
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Don’t waste time networking with family
• Try to make as many new contact as you possibly
can
• Get what you want out of every meeting
• Let you’re your networking take its own natural
course
• Network as soon as you can: sort out business
detail later
 WHERE DO I START?
• Simply put, networking is the process of
meeting new people, and maintaining
valuable contact with these people, to the
benefit of both you and them.
• It’s not a special business skill, it’s a human
and social aptitude that we all have.
 WHERE DO I START?
Take a minute to consider the following:
• Am I networking in order to change career?
• Do I want to start networking after a career
break?
• Am I networking in order to grow my own
business?
• Am I networking to grow the client base of the
company I am with?
 IDENTIFYING YOUR
EXISTING CLIENT BASE
‘How can I network if I don’t even have a network?’ –
Good news, you do! And it probably looks something like
this-
• Your family- a reliable source of support, info and local
knowledge
• Your friends: people you rely on support and ideas
• Your work or study colleagues, past or present: people
who know your work skills can give insights into other
roles that might suit you
• Your acquaintances: people you meet day to day-your
barber, mechanic, neigbour, nasi lemak lady etc
 IDENTIFYING YOUR
EXISTING CLIENT BASE
It’s the people you know least that could be
most useful to you
• Known as ‘weak ties’- these people are at the
edges of your social network
• Know different set of people who may present
fresh opportunities
• Invest time in ‘weak ties’
 REDISCOVERING YOUR
EXISTING NETWORK
It’s time to look at people with fresh eyes-
people that all of us are guilty of dismissing
• What are their skills you don’t know about?
• Who do they work with?
• What are their inspiration?
• What are their hobbies?
 REDISCOVERING YOUR
EXISTING NETWORK
Spend time with family, friends and colleagues
you’ve not seen lately
• Don’t hog the conversation
• Treat them as if you’ve just met
• LISTEN
 REDISCOVERING YOUR
EXISTING NETWORK
• Similarly, when you’re getting a haircut or
running errands, or sitting in the LRT, don’t
ignore everyone because you think the people
you meet at these times are not ‘important’.

• Engage in conversation, allow them to talk-

LISTEN and presto- you’re NETWORKING!
 REDISCOVERING YOUR
EXISTING NETWORK
• Building an effective and supportive network its is
important to know exactly who you can rely on

‘Am I happy with who is closest to me?’

• If your aim is to change the way your life looks,

you may have to work out whether there are any
people, very close to you, that are limiting you
WHO WOULD I TURN TO IN A CRISES?
Imagine yourself in an awful situation. You’ve
lost your job, your business is failing,, or you’re
going through a grueling period of stress at
work.

‘Who, in reality, would you turn to?’

 USING EXISTING NETWORK
Networking to change. And you can start the process of
change, just from the people you already know!

• Build bridges to other networks

Hold your own event. Ask your friend to bring a few of
their friends.
• Surround yourself with those that bring out your best
Start spending most time with the people that make you
feel good
 CREATING BRAND NEW
NETWORKS
Add some new faces by breaking out of your existing network
entirely BUT HOW?

Visit various events: eventbrite.com, eventful.com,

mymajorevents.com etc
Business Support Organizations: SME Corp Malaysia, MyWin
Academy etc
Research Online: Type in the keywords of your field of interest
Night classes and courses: Acquiring a new set of skills
Volunteering: Want to meet new people and develop new
skills but on a tight budget? Find your nearest volunteering
centre!
 QUALITY AS WELL AS QUANTITY
• A person can only sustain around 150
meaningful social relationships.
• All those that you see on facebook with 350+
friends don’t really have 350 lifelong buddies,
they’ll have a few, the rest are acquaintances.
 EXAMINE YOUR ATTITUDE
• Do you think networking is a crucial part of
your work?
• Or is it a waste of time?
 BECOMING EVENT READY
• GET business cards printed
The act of exchanging them is a rite of passage itself. The
exchange provides a physical ‘ice breaker’.

• Check your ‘back office’

Before finalizing your business card, ensure that
everything you say holds true. Web address, phone
number, credentials etc.

• Do you have the appropriate kit?

Make technology work for you, not against you.
 PLANNING YOUR NETWORKING
• What do I want to achieve for myself and my
business in the long term?
• Who do I want to meet to help me achieve that?
• How much time/money can I spend per month?
• What are my immediate networking goals at each
event?
• How do I measure my networking success?
• Do I need different tactics for different groups?
 THREE TOOLS FOR
NETWORK PLANNING
Manage your networking effectively:

Scheduling: set aside a time each week or month to plan

and review your networking and block time off in your
diary
Funding: If you are starting your own business or
networking for personal development, it’s a good thing to
factor in a monthly allowance for networking
Measuring: How well are you doing? Which network
events result in the greatest number of active contacts?
 AVOIDING HICCUPS ON THE DAY
• Do you really know where you’re going?
• Time your travel to the minute
• Make a checklist and count items in
• Check the weather
• Don’t be above a dress rehearsal
NETWORK EFFECTIVELY ONLINE

‘Let’s get real about this. Connection is

what humans crave.’
-Steven Fry, Actor, Author, Presenter
and Social Media Enthusiast
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Check your network’s social media updates
everyday
• Keep your social media personal profile info up to
date
• Maintain your online brand consistently with
integrity
• Customize all default social media invites
• Be mindful of social media law
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Prioritize social media over face to face
interaction
• Use your personal Facebook page to do business
networking
• Post anything, whether business-related or not
• Respond immediately to upsetting social media
activity
• Never meet social media contacts face to face
 WHAT IS ONLINE NETWORKING
More and more business people are
complementing traditional networking methods
with the use of social media such as Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and others. Such
sites offer simple ways of keeping in regular
touch that take up little time and don’t cost
money.
 WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
 MAKING SOCIAL MEDIA
WORK FOR YOU
How should I use them?
• Review your profile
• Check what your contacts are doing
• Post regular updates
• Ask or answer questions
• Post comments or likes
• Endorse
 SOCIAL MEDIA AND PRIVACY
• Facebook and privacy
If you’re starting a business, create a Facebook page for
the business itself, entirely removed from your own page
on Facebook.
• Twitter and privacy
Because you aim to have followers on Twitter who are
both personal and professional contacts, be careful of
what you write. Be positive and never swear!
• Instagram and privacy
Be vigilant of what you post. As they say, a picture can be
interpreted 1001 ways!
 CREATE THE BRAND OF YOU
To take networking seriously, you may have to
work on your online brand; the brand that is
you. ‘Google’ yourself on the internet- it can be
an eye opener.
 SOCIAL MEDIA ETIQUETTE
• Quantity
• Relevance
• Timeline
• Appropriateness
• Standards
• Personalize defaults invites
• Never post in anger
 INTEGRATING YOUR ACTIVITY
• Tell contacts where to find you
• Tempt your contacts across media
• Exhibit your social media post on your website
• Consider using a social media management
system
GETTING BACK ROUND THE TABLE
• Ensure that your always come back to the
table- make time to meet your contacts, to
shake hands, to have coffee and laugh.
• Always strive to cut through the hi tech
distraction and to get back to the clarity of
talking and most importantly- listening.
‘You never get a second
chance to make a first
impression’
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Networking isn't scary; it’s just meeting new
people
• Arrive early at events
• Bring business cards
• Prepare something short to say about yourself
• SMILE!
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Hang out with people you know
• Dismiss new people that aren’t ‘important’
enough
• Wait for others to approach you
• Hog the conversation
• Try to ‘get’ something from everyone you
meet
 INVITATIONS
• Prioritize: make events work for you, not
against you
You might work in a business area that attracts
interest from event organizers. Only choose
events that may have valuable relevance to you,
and that work with your diary.
 RESEARCH YOUR HOST
• Take ten minutes to look them up online
• Get a little history of the company
• Find out their field of business

By then, the web will give you enough info to

decide whether or not to invest the time in
attending.
 RSVP
• For invite by post: RSVP by the date given.
Assume that you will attend alone unless
specified otherwise
• By email: similar to by post
• By Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter: takes a couple of
second to respond and courteous reply may just
get you remembered. Keep an eye on your
timeline, to see if any interesting names reply
which may influence your decision to attend.
 GET ADVANCE INTELLIGENT
• Find out who’s going
• Ask a list from the organizer
• Pick out the people you want to meet
• Do some research on them
• If you are nervous, ask a friend to introduce
 DRESS, BODY LANGUAGE
AND ATTITUDE
• Don’t overdress
• Avoid clothes that make you fidget
• Be comfortable
• Be presentable
 POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• Walk in with purpose
• Watch your habit
• Shake hands like you mean it
• Make eye contact and smile!
• Don’t prolong agony
• Expect nothing
 MEETING & GREETING-
WHAT TO DO
1. Name
2. Job title
3. Company
4. Company location
5. Why you are here
 THE ELEVATOR PITCH
• Imagined scenario used the world over by
business people, life coaches and motivational
speaker to prepare us for that million dollar
question-

“WHAT DO YOU DO?”

 KEY POINTERS
1. Your name: Say your name clearly
2. Your job: Say what your job title is, or if its
more informative, simply what you do
3. Company: say what company you represent
4. Location: Say where the company is
5. Your elevator pitch.: give a summary about
you (or your company), what you do, and
what benefits that you bring that you make
unique.
 CREATING AN ELEVATOR PITCH
• DO
1. Keep it simple
2. Be short and to the point
3. Try to keep a conversational tone of voice
4. Practicing delivering it out loud- too awkward?
Too long? Out of breath?
5. FOCUS on the benefits you offer clients, NOT
YOURSELF
6. Relax and smile
 CREATING AN ELEVATOR PITCH
• DON’T!
1. Rush and cram bags of info
2. Use business jargons or acronym
3. Exaggerate
4. Sound over rehearsed
5. Tell them everything
 SOUNDING PRO!
ACTIVITY
• Let’s take all those jigsaw puzzle and put it together.

Asking permission: Do you mind if I introduce myself?

i hope i’m not interrupting, but my name is…
Saying hello: Good morning, I’m (your name)
Hello, my name is…
Saying what is your job: I’m a financial advisor
I’m a unit manager with…
Saying where you work: I represent..
I’m self employed.
Giving the company’s location: I’m based in KL/Penang/etc. Right in front of Jalan
Ampang/ets
Making your elevator pitch: Great Eastern provides security and peace of mind for
over a century. Today, we are one of the leading insurance companies in Asia.
Unfortunately life’s journey is not always as smooth as we want it to be. Unexpected
events may trip us up in life or stop us from living every day to the fullest. For those
events that could be expensive, takaful can cover the costs, so that you don’t have to.
DEAL WITH NETWORKING NERVES
• You are only in this room for a couple of hours
• If you mess up, you may never see most of
these people again
• Every single person in this room feels EXACTLY
the same as you
 BE THE BEST
CONVERSATIONALIST
‘Most people do not listen with the
intent to understand; they listen with
the intent to reply.’
-Stephen R. Covey
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Encourage others to talk more than you
• Use open questions without revealing your
opinions
• Take time for courtesy in all business networking
• Find out how your voice sounds to others
• Ease conversation with approachable body
language
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Don’t concentrate on what the other person
says
• Ensure that you get you opinions across
• Ignore body language and tone of voice
• Always get straight to the point
• Don’t make eye contact
 ACTIVE LISTENING
Which of the following statement sounds like you?
1. It is difficult to start a conversation with people I
don’t know
2. I like meeting new people. I walk up and say
hello!
3. I prefer to stick around people I know and like
4. I don’t talk to people I don’t know until I’m
introduced
5. I often talk too much when I meet new people
 ACTIVE LISTENING
6. I interrupt people when they are talking
7. I get impatient if I have to listen for a long
time
8. I judge what people say and if I don’t like it, I
interrupt
9. I am happy to listen and not talk
10. I don’t interrupt and I pause before I reply
 NON-LISTENERS
• More interested in what they have to say
• Hog conversations
• Use long ‘ems’ and ‘ums’ so that no else gets
to speak
• Leaves a conversation having remembered
little
• Must have the last word
 MARGINAL LISTENERS
• More interested in what they have to say
• Hijacks what other people say
• Interrupts other people
• Impatient
• Finishes other people’s sentences
• Restless movements- finger tapping or
shuffling their feet
• Easily distracted
 PRETEND LISTENERS
• Appear to listen
• Observing and judging people
• Pre planning what to say next
• Concerned with what others say not how they
feel
• Only interested in content of words, ignore
intonation, body language or facial expression
• Keen on stats, logic and definition
 ACTIVE LISTENERS
• Quiet and sympathetic
• Pays attention and puts themselves in people’s shoe
• They encourage people to express themselves
• They don’t interrupt
• They ask meaningful, and neutral questions to help
speaker to develop their train of thoughts
• make eye contact, quiet verbal nods, and support
speaker by showing facial expression that underpin key
points
• May appear still but lean forward
• Remove small obstacle between them or indicate a
better place to talk
WHICH ONE ARE YOU?
 FACE
Some people are born listeners. Good listeners
came across as warm and fascinating people. Well
good news is, any one of us can become an active
listener using the FACE technique:

• FOCUS
• ACKNOWLEDGE
• CLARITY
• EMPHATIZE
 VOICE & VOCABULARY
• Do others often ask you to repeat yourself?
• Do others often ask you to explain something
you just said?
• Do you sometimes fall over your words?
• Do other people sometimes tell you ‘not to be
so negative?’
 BODY LANGUAGE
• Start every conversation with a handshake or
salaam
• Your hands speak volume
• Stand tall feel confident
• Achieve the right eye contact
• Are you sitting comfortably?
SURVIVE DIFFICULT MOMENTS

‘Man is the only animal that blushes.

Or needs to.’
-Mark Twain (1835-1910), Author
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Resolve mishaps quickly, quietly and decisively.
• If you arrive late, take sometime
• Get phone numbers if you forget business cards
• Analyze your mistakes
• Learn about the culture of people you plan to
meet
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• If you spill something, ignore it
• Immediately drop unlikeable people from your
network
• Be rude if you meet rude people when
networking
• Never own up to forgetting someone’s name
• Don’t learn languages to network internationally
 DEAL WITH ANYTHING
• Do as you would be done by
• Be sensitive
• Learn
• Be responsive
 DEALING WITH PRACTICAL MISHAPS
• Spilled food or drinks on someone?
• Spilled food or drink on yourself?
• Being late
• Forgetting a vital piece of equipment
• Forgetting business cards
 PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
• Acknowledge your weaknesses
• Be decisive
• Review your behavior
 DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
• Don’t counter attack-ask questions
• Stay calm and polite
• Side step unacceptable behavior
• Don’t take nastiness personally
• Avoid the ‘you’ word
• Create a bell-jar yourself
PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO TALK TO ME!
• Take your time
• Persevere with some open questions- how are
you enjoying the event? Where are you from?
• But if you still receive a dead end answer-
positively leave
• Say- ‘I’m sure you have lots of people you’d
like to meet’ and excuse yourself.
• Don’t take it personally
 I FORGOT SOMEONE’S NAME!
• Ask the host for names that you’ve forgotten- be
discreet!
• Be honest. Say; ‘I’m sorry but I’ve forgotten your
name’.
• If you know you met before, reintroduce yourself.
‘I’m Ahmad- we met a while back and I wasn’t
sure if you’d remember me’.
• If the person has an unusual name, ask them how
to spell it. This is much more courteous than
pronouncing it wrong late.
 ICE BREAKERS & ICE MAKERS
Take care of the following topics
• Partners and families
• Differences in the status of men and women
• Politics
• Language diversity
• Religion
• Wealth and social status
 CULTURAL ETIQUETTE:
DOS AND TABOOS
• Research
• Learn vital words
• Go with the flow
• Business card etiquette
• Personal space
• Gender differences
• Dress
• Hierarchy
• Punctuality
• Gift giving
 WORK THE ROOM

‘I’ve always been in the right place and

time. Of course, I steered myself there.’
-Bob Hope (1903-2003), Actor
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Prepare to network-use your voice en route
• Walk once around the room to prepare
• Assume that everyone has little time
• Be upfront about beneficial mutual
introduction
• Help people on their own to integrate
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Force your way into closed group
• Be blunt with hangers-on
• Sit with the people you know best
• Approach a must have-contact without
hesitation
• Take time to give details of your business
 GETTING INTO CONVERSATION
Warming Up!
• Get talkative
• Have a couple of the day’s headlines to hand
• Arrive early
• Put your name tag on your right lapel
 PLAN YOUR JOURNEY
THROUGH THE ROOM
• Locate the people you plan to meet
• Find any guest speakers you hope to meet
• Identify groups of three or more and people
standing
• Find the busiest spot
• Locate any food
 FOLLOW UP ON LEADS

‘A man, sir, should keep his friendship

in constant repair.’
-Samuel Johnson (1709-84), Author
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to SUCCEED
• Finish talking when both have more to say
• Thank people for speaking to you
• Plan regular contact with members of your
network
• Learn how to ask for and accept help
• Let go of stagnant relationships
 POINTS TO PONDER
FIVE ways to FAIL
• Give your business card to everyone you meet
• Send out group emails thanking everyone you
meet
• Never explain why you would like to meet
someone
• Only look after yourself
• Continue relationships which have no mutual
value
 RECORD INFORMATION
• Make notes about who you meet
• Note your ideas
• Review what worked and what didn’t
 CREATE A FOLLOW UP PLAN
• Plan for regular follow up
• Vary follow-up timing an type
• Contact will eventually become spontaneous
 NURTURE YOUR NETWORK
• Understand your unique skills
• Get to know your contact interests
• Understand your contacts’ goals
• Commit a follow through