Do You Network Randomly? Are you building relationships with people that you meet at random or do you know who you want in your network?

Networking can be a very time consuming activity, and it takes time to build relationships. If you build your networking relationships completely at random you could be spending valuable time that would be better invested in building a more deliberate network. It helps to first have an understanding of what you want to accomplish through your networking efforts. Who can help you in those efforts, and who can you help to pay it forward?

For most it will be easiest to describe these individuals by their titles and roles. In other words what they "do." However, it's important not to only focus on these attributes. Give some thought to the type of person your wanting to get to know. Personally I look for intelligent, thoughtful and caring people. Individuals who are willing to help me, the same way I'm willing to help them. People who will follow through and be true to their word. At the same time you may wish to have some disqualifying attributes as well. Who don't you want in your network? I'm not interested in those who lack integrity or are only concerned about themselves.

When you can clearly articulate who you want in your network it's easier to know when you've met the right person. Better yet, you can begin to ask your existing network to introduce you to these types of individuals. They can accelerate the growth of these deliberate connections, and help with a lot of pre-screening and pre-qualifying of the more personal attributes which you probably won't find listed on their LinkedIn profile.

To give you a better sense here are some of the types of people that I most enjoy building relationships with:

• Successful Business Executives and Owners
• B2B Sales & Marketing Professionals
• Great Networkers and Resources
• Major Community Leaders/Contributors (time and money)

Hopefully this gives you something to think about as you build your own network. This purposeful approach may help you get where you're going just a little faster. Please note that I still encourage a certain amount of random networking because, well, you just never know. A diverse network is important as well.

Happy Networking!

-Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com