Career & Practice Guide: Networking

From a working definition of networking to step-by-step instructions on how to cultivate and maintain relationships, this book helps law students and new lawyers tap the power of networking and informational interviewing to enhance their professional opportunities and leverage the value of their law degrees.

In many ways, success at networking is the uncommon application of common knowledge. Most people understand that networking is important to their success -- they just lack a step-by-step process to get the results they want. Almost no one really implements a comprehensive methodology that will build a business through networking. Thus, the need to network is 'common knowledge', and the development of the methodology required to be successful at it is the 'uncommon application'. By reading this book, you will experience the true essence and meaning of networking. "The 29% Solution" gives you the answers to two conflicting questions that a business owner or salesperson faces every day: How can I tend to my existing clients while at the same time network for new business? and, should I place higher value on my current clients or on new clients?

Would you rather get a root canal than schmooze with a bunch of strangers? Does the phrase "working a room" make you want to retreat to yours? Is small talk a big problem? Devora Zack used to be just like you-in fact, she still is. But she's also a successful consultant who addresses thousands of people each year, and she didn't change her personality to do it. Quite the contrary. Zack politely examines and then smashes to tiny fragments the "dusty old rules" of standard networking advice. You don't have to become a backslapping extrovert or even learn how to fake it. Incredible as it seems, the very traits that make you hate networking can be harnessed to forge an approach even more effective than traditional techniques. It's a different kind of networking-and it works. Networking enables you to accomplish the goals that are most important to you. But you can't adopt a style that isn't true to who you are. "I have never met a person who did not benefit tremendously from learning how to network-on his or her own terms," Zack writes. "You do not succeed by denying your natural temperament; you succeed by working with your strengths."

Everyone knows that relationships are critical to business success, but no-one has provided a simple system to turn contacts and acquaintances into valuable assets -- until now. The first systematic program for advancing business relationships. In five easy-to-follow steps, the book shows how to transform any casual business relationship into a valuable source for revenue, leads, and advice. Ed Wallace combines memorable anecdotes with a clear theoretical framework that shows individuals how to leverage their hard business skills with the often-overlooked soft skills of rela-tionship building. Surveyed executives say they need this book. In a recent survey, 88 percent of executives indicated that the strength of their client, cus-tomer, and referral relationships was critical to achieving their goals each year. But only 25 percent of those same executives said they had a formal process for planning, managing, and growing business relation-ships and 73 percent of the group surveyed said they would be very interested in reading a book on this topic. This book delivers the process that so many people and organisations need.