Anti-Networking

97 Zebra Print Swarovski Crystal Business Card...
Image by ExecGifts via Flickr

Recently I went to a tweetup and caught up with some friends as well as met a lot of new people. As is often the case at tweetups, you have two distinct groups. I think of one as the friendlies, and the other as the card exchangers. Both are about networking, but their approach is completely different.

As you might expect card exchangers are more interested in themselves and giving as many people their business cards as possible. They’re more interested in what they want to tell you than you. They chat people up just long enough to find out your name, maybe what you do, before they launch into their spiel, possibly hand you their card and move on to their next victim.

Friendlies are also interested in meeting many new people and catching up with friends, however, the biggest difference is while they’re interested in what you might be able to do for them and them for you, their biggest interest is the person in front of them. They’ll do their fair share of talking, but they also do a lot of listening and question asking.

Now, it’s been a few days… guess who stands out in your memory? Who are you most likely to do business with?

EAVB_QNJYCQBGJM

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]