With the pressures of our daily lives – both work related and our personal responsibilities outside of work, it is easy to push aside marketing activities such as networking. The latter requires thinking about with whom, what, when and where to undertake the activities needed to meet people who can become clients or referral sources.
Keith Ferrazzai posted on Inc.com’s weblog a comment he calls “The No-Time Networking Plan” which intrigued me. I might call it the “daily routine networking” plan. In other words, look for networking opportunities in all aspects of your normal routine. You have to be there anyway, whether at the dentist, your child’s sporting event, and so forth, that you might as well make the most of the situation in which you find yourself.
This type of networking:
–requires no extra time,
-makes productive use of your time while undertaking daily obligations, and
-encourages you to think about networking no matter where you find yourself.
This does not replace the need for more focused and planned networking efforts, but it does provide many opportunities to think about networking as part of your daily routine.