NETWORKING

Garavagno Laura

Networking is about building relationships to communicate with both customers and employees. We talk about internal networking and external networtking.

Internal networking is done with your team.You are listening to your team and she is listening to you, it permits to share ideas in the company : what people need, understand more the customers expectations. Your employees are people who are selling your products/ services so you have to communicate them a good image and make them feel important in the process. They are part of business and have to be conscious of it. When people know that what they do is important and that their point of view matter, they are always more efficient. 

External networking is meeting customers, communicate on your business through several ways, and achieve your goals by making people talk about you. You have to come to people to make you know and, you can use your mentor for example to help you in networking.

Mary Vallender

Mary Vallender is a real estate agent in Chicago. She is such a perfect example to talk about networking. She was working at the begining in a small agency but decided to change her life and build her own business in real estate. She started from scratch and learnt that in the US you have to be referred by other professionals when the business is already opened. That is to say that you have to find one's place in the area and make people trust in you more than in others. By this way, she knew that she had to build strong relationships with people who were doing the same job, partners, and customers. To achieve this goal, she firstly talk with her first boss who helped her to get her first contacts and customers. Then, she was actively participating to exhibitions, joined sessions like The River Norh group, participate to parties. Indeed, we can think that party is only about fun but it is not at all. That is a way to meet new people, Mary Vallender said that you have to go to people that they know who you are, why you are here and you have to make them remember you. In that type of meeting, if you are shy, you loose. Getting to people in the number one thing you have to do, and to make your conversation even more efficient, make sure that you have always with you a business card that will permit people who liked your personnality and projects to contact you and maybe work with you as partners or lot of  other options. Using these tools, Mary built herself the image she wanted, that is to say being associated with credibility and integrity. She will tell you that, getting to people is a fact, but keeping in touch with them is much more better and efficient both for you and for them. The more your network is large, the more people know you, talk about you, think of you when they need something, and talk about you to advice someone. The more you build relationships, the more relationships help you to build your business and reputation.

The Legacy @properties

Moreover, Mary understood that today it is essential to be active on social network to increase again and again your capacity of networking.

Social network like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin are nowaday used by almost all businesses mixed up together. So being in social network is not really a plus anymore but a new basis of business networking that you have to use. 
She also used newspapers, blog and webpages for networking.