5 Deadly Networking Mistakes for people to avoid - by John Fisher from Business For Breakfast

1. 5 Deadly Networking Mistakes
5 Deadly Networking Mistakes - To Avoid At All Costs
+ One Piece Of Advice
From John Fisher - BforB

2. Mistake 1
• Not listening. Of course we are all there to sell
ourselves, but if we don't connect with anyone,
people will run a mile in the other direction.
• Even if you're tired, you can come up with some
basic questions such as 'Do you find this
networking group has been useful for you?' or
'Who are you looking to sell to?'

3. Mistake 2
• Expecting a sale every time you network.
• If everyone thought this way, who would they all
sell to - the catering staff?!
• Networking is all about building relationships.

4. Mistake 3
• Deadly dull pitches.
• Brighten your 60 seconds up with humour, a
picture or an interesting statistic.

5. Mistake 4
• Not grabbing any opportunity to do a
presentation.
• Public speaking scares many people witless.
• What about those confident speakers who can
keep the audience's attention for those all-
important 10 minutes? They learned this
confidence by practising. They too were scared
witless once.

6. Mistake 5
• Being a one-hit wonder. There is limited value in
attending a group once.
• You will get great results if you go back and get to
know the other members.
• You never know what joint ventures or referrals
will result from the trust that grows out of a
regular networking group.
• You'll also have a lot of fun!

7. + The Piece Of Advice
• Lastly, don't be afraid of making mistakes.
• Success is impossible without some degree of
failure.
• If you don't get your message across properly one
day, there's always next time.