I just re-read Jeffrey Gitomer’s excellent ‘Little Red Book of Selling’. He’s one of the country’s leading sales experts, trainers and speakers … and a very entertaining writer.
He really gets Networking and defines it so well – ‘Networking is life skills and social skills combine with sales skills.’ He also advises that … ‘Networking is a mandatory function of business for salespeople and entrepreneurs.’
In Principle 5 – ‘It’s Not Work, It’s NetWork’, he shares his Principles of Networking:
- ‘to get known by those who count
- to get more prospects
- to make more contacts
- to make more sales
- to build relationships
- to make a career advancement (or just get a job)
- to build your reputation (and be seen and known as consistent)’
To learn more about his simple yet effective approach to networking and sales, Go Get Gitomer!
(Little Red Book of Selling – 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness: how to make sales forever’, Jeffrey Gitomer, 2oo5)