In my opinion the most important part of networking is giving and adding value to those you're networking with. If you don't have a mindset of helping others in your networking efforts then you're not likely to see a very good return on the investment of your time, money and energy.

You won't be able to help everyone, but as long as you work hard to make a difference for others those networking deposits will pay dividends back to you.

I can't quote it directly, but on a recent vacation I read: The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea. In this book it says something like: To give and not expect to receive is unnatural. This is an important networking lesson that even very good networkers frequently forget. I'll talk more about this book in a future post, but I do recommend it. It's a nice quick read and breaks down what networking is really about into a very readable fictional story.

Now that you've done a great job of giving through your networking efforts it's time to receive right?

It's not quite that easy. Most people are not mind readers, and many times if they were to guess what you need based on your title or some other piece of information it might not be what you really wanted.

So ASK for what you need! I know this sounds impossibly simple, but so few people do it. You have to tell people what you're looking for or there's no way they can help you get it.

The more specific you can ask the better... "I need to grow my business" or "I'm looking for a job" is not nearly specific enough. The more you can focus in on exactly what you need the more likely somebody will be able to help you find just that.

Just look at the difference:

• "I need to grow my business." or "I'm looking for an introduction to the sales manager of a high-tech startup company based in Austin."
• "I'm looking for a job." or "I'm looking for an HR generalist position with a company that has between 50 and 100 employees."

Aren't you be in a much better position to help someone who asked the latter questions? Give your networking partners the same opportunity. Ask as specifically as you can and you're much, much more likely to get what you want.

What do you want? How can you ask specifically for that? Who can you ask that question of right now?

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com