Non-Toxic Networking

Jim was always popular. As far back as he could remember, he was picked first for team sports, invited to parties, and had lots of friends. When he began networking, he couldn’t understand why everyone looked at him like he was bothering them. He was used to being well liked, and people not responding to him in a positive way was confusing and a little disheartening.

At first he thought they might be jealous. He did tell an awful lot of stories about how successful he was, but he thought that was what he should do to let people know he was good at what he did for a living.

After reading Non-Toxic Networking, he realized that he was doing too much of the talking, and not enough listening. The chapter on letting people talk about their passions made him realize that listening would make him seem far more successful than telling people stories about what he did. Now Jim feels as popular at networking events as he did when he threw the winning touchdown at the Homecoming game in High School.

Arthur is a really shy business owner. He would go to events because someone would tell him it would be great for his business, but then he’d go and no one would talk to him. He wasn’t sure why people didn’t talk to him, wasn’t that what a networking event was all about?

After picking up Non-Toxic Networking, he read the chapter on the modest/shy business owner and realized that he didn’t get into business because he didn’t like people, he got into business because he liked working with people and helping them. He filled out the questions in the book and realized that the worst thing that could happen was someone wouldn’t want to talk to him.

Arthur realized that wasn’t such a bad thing, and at his next networking event he set a small, realistic goal to walk up and talk to one person. Just one. He considered that the most successful networking event he had attended yet, and realized he had actually had a little fun for the first time. He is excited about going to his next event and talking to two people.

Sheila works as a receptionist for a very small company. This means she’s not only the receptionist, but the executive assistant, office manager, HR department, and all-around fix-it person in her office. She would like to move up, but the company she is at is so small that there is no place to move up to, no matter how qualified she is.

She ran across a copy of Non-Toxic Networking in the bookstore and decided to give it a try, even though she thought networking was only for business owners. She was thrilled when she found that she could use networking to get a new job, and even happier when she learned the tools to talk to business owners at events. After learning how to compliment properly, listen well, and follow-up, she found that within a month she had not one, but two job offers that allowed her to move in the direction she truly wanted to with her career.

Now Sheila knows that networking is for everyone, not just business owners looking for clients. Even though she has a new job and is very happy, Sheila continues to network once or twice a month to meet new people and see others that she has grown fond of.

Geoff is an accountant looking to move out of his current corporate position into his own one-man office. He’s going to need business cards, signage, brochures, a marketing plan, and some office help.

After his first attempt with a designer he found in the yellow pages turned into a disaster, he tried to think of other ways to find reliable help he could trust. He heard about Non-Toxic Networking from a friend, and even though he only thought you went to networking events to get a new job, he decided to give it a read.

He realized that he could not only get personally recommended contractors for all of his new business needs, but he could then become a hub and recommend those people to others while networking. This resulted in Geoff not only having marketing materials he was thrilled with, but also gaining more clients from being known as the “go to” guy for all of the people he met at networking events.

Lydia is a work from home mom with two lovely children. Lydia loved talking about her children, and would show pictures to anyone she came into contact with. She found that more and more often people would wrap up a conversation with her very quickly to go talk to someone else. She wasn’t sure what was going on, and her client base wasn’t expanding the way she hoped it would.

She read Non-Toxic Networking and had an ephiphany – she wasn’t telling people what she actually did in her business, she thought that it would be enough to bond over the kids’ pictures and they would see that she was a dedicated mother and know how that translated to her business.

She used the forms in the back of Non-Toxic networking to help her clarify what she was selling and what made her different from other service providers in her industry. Now when she goes to networking events she doesn’t take out pictures of the kids, she tells people what she does and what sets her apart in her industry. Her client base has improved dramatically!