The third common networking mistake to avoid is lousy follow up. This manifests itself most starkly when you need to help someone you just met by introducing them to someone that you know. Whatever problem they currently are facing, if it isn’t something that your business cures, will fall into the category where you need to make an introduction to solve it. The breadth of your network and your knowledge of each person in it can only be built over time when you have mastered the follow up process. This is the email sent to someone you met that day, expressing your understanding of their business and what kinds of people and problems they help solve. This is crucial because documenting this knowledge in a program that will allow you to recall that information when you find someone with that problem, is the only way you can store and retrieve it on demand. Now when you meet someone with a problem that your business doesn’t solve, instead of telling them that you can’t help them, you can say, that isn’t my specialty, but I know who you need to know and I will introduce you to them. MORE >

The second common networking mistake to avoid is, not building a deep relationship. I am sure you know someone who falls for this mistake often, I call them eye wanderers. They are talking to you, but you can see their eyes looking around the room for the next person they are going to talk to. Almost at the same time, they hand you one of their cards and ask for yours, even though they have demonstrated little to no interest in you or your business. This is a classic example of someone who doesn’t understand that any good business relationship is built on a mutual trust established over many interactions. Can these all happen in one sitting? MORE >