You've got a busy day ahead and could just do with an extra couple of hours first thing to allow you to get ready for the big meeting this afternoon. What about dropping that networking breakfast? This is a big mistake that is all too easy to make. Once in a while, if you have a real emergency, you have to miss a network meeting. However, excuses such as 'I'm just rushed off my feet today' are the thin end of the wedge. A few months' down the line, you'll be saying 'I can't go. I'm feeling a bit tired today'. It's often easy just to focus on how many leads each networking breakfast brings you. If last meeting was a bit disappointing from this point of view, you risk seeing the whole point of networking as a direct marketing tool. This is missing the point. But if networking is not about lead or sales generation , why bother? The answer is for the indirect marketing opportunities that it creates. Here are just three of them you can add to your marketing mix