"It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know!": Chat, Listen, and Learn

As you start to network for the first time, you will begin to find out who you can learn from. Bigger businesses, or businesses currently more successful than you are for example, are all great contacts to have to chat, listen, and learn.

Chat

You won’t make contacts with anyone without talking to them, so approaching people is the first step to networking. Talk to them about what they do, and what you do, to find out what sort of contact they could become.

Listen.

Listen to what they’ve got to say. Telling people who you are and what you do is a great way to let people know you’re there, but don’t forget to listen to what they have to say too. Perhaps they could become a future business contact, a friend, or perhaps they’ll tell you something you can learn from…

Learn.

Don’t worry if you ever meet a competitor, or somebody who appears to be doing better at what they are doing than you are. Learn from then. Listen to what they have to say and think about the things that you liked about them and adapt this next time you’re networking, and building your business. By doing this, the person who will benefit, wil always be you.

posted by Lauren Bradley, Friday November 18th 2011

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