Customer Reviews

Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-how for Business And Career Success

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just loved this book. I regularly read business books on business plans, marketing plans, and publicity or public relations plans. I really hadn't thought about it before, but after reading this book any entrepreneur should have a networking plan, too.

"Networking is now the critical strategy for business development. Professionals and entrepreneurs need to know how to gain visibility and credibility in their target markets, and how to build and maintain relationships for long-term growth." (Barber, page xiii). I agree 100% with the authors! And this book is the book to help you put together your networking plan. It is broken into the four following parts to help you in the process:

I. Survey your skills and mindset (Chapters 1-2)
II. Set your strategy (Chapters 3-5)
III. Sharpen your skills (Chapters 6-13)
IV. Select your settings (Chapters 14-20)

The chapters included in the book are as follows:

1. Assess your skills
2. Change your mindset
3. Teach trust
4. Develop your relationships
5. Go with your goals
6. Know the "netiquette"
7. Avoid the top 20 turnoffs
8. "Who are you?"
9. "What do you do?"
10. "What are we going to talk about?"
11. Make conversations flow
12. End with the future in mind
13. Follow through
14. Network at work
15. Make it rain clients
16. (Net)work from home
17. Make the most of your memberships
18. Rev up referral groups
19. Connect at conventions
20. Jump-start your job hunt

My favorite chapters were 7, 14, 15, 16, and 17. But all the chapters are great. There really are no spare words included in this text. And that is one of the reasons I liked it so much. Very well written. 5 stars!

I have been teaching high end professionals (lawyers, accountants, investment bankers, etc.) how to network for many years. As a result, I read almost anything that comes out on this subject. And, then I review the best of the best here on Amazon.

Authors Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon are obvious experts on this subject and communicate their expertise in a well written, very straightforward basis. I love that they start by emphasizing the importance of a networking strategy before diving into the details of tactics. And, I really like that they spend time on the importance of building trust in all networking activities.

Heretofore, my favorites on this subject have been "Click" by George Frasier as to strategy (his concept of "connecting" takes networking to an higher level); and "The Little Teal Book of Trust" by Jeffrey Gittomer. This book does an even better job than the two of those on a myriad of very important tactical issues.

As much as I liked this book (and I do highly recommend it), the absence of treatment of net based social networking seems to be a real oversight. Unless I missed it, the great online networking tool, LinkedIn, is not even mentioned. For a book this recent and one that has chosen "social networks" as one of the things for which it is indexed in the Library of Congress, this oversight keeps me from ranking it as a five star on this subject.

That being said, I do recommend the book highly...just supplement it with a good book on the role of social networking, and especially on LinkedIn. On networking tactics, other than online, this is as good as it gets.

I just lost my job at a high tech company in Silicon Valley and decided to start networking right away. After reading the first 25 pages of the book, I implemented some of the points Baber mentioned and it was amazing. If every young high school person read and digested the info in this book, he or she would have a competitive advantage over their competition. The info would help them through college and throughout their careers. I love the no-nonsense approach to networking that's conveyed in this book (I've now read the entire book, but will keep it as a reference book).

I loved Make Your Contacts Count. Even if you don't think you need networking skills for your work, trust me, you'll get a lot out of this book. It is filled with specific, lively examples that spark your imagination and build your confidence that you too can be a great conversationalist. I also like that it's based in values of trust and mutual respect. Excellent resource.

In "Make Your Contacts Count," Lynne Waymon and Anne Baber have created a networking bible for today's professionals - in any profession or life stage. Reading chapter after chapter, I was able to identify both short and long term strategies to build and nurture my network. In addition, I was struck by the number of practical, simple tips which can be easily learned and practiced in all my interactions - professional and personal. The book provides current real life examples, as well as theory behind authors' recommendations. As a baby boomer with over 30 years of professional experience, networking was something for sales and marketing types. Professionals in private practice or business - lawyers, accountants, consultants - called it rainmaking. For most of us, it was something we only thought about when we were job searching. While job searching is addressed in one chapter, the book is really about how to build relationships - six stages described and how to strengthen. I'm convinced ..... networking is the essential career survival tactic and a core competency for today's leaders.

I just finished reading "Make Your Contacts Count, Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success," by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon and it is a must-read for anyone who wants to be successful in the business world.

"Contacts Count," gives you all the tools you need in an easy-to-use manner to get out there and become successful in the business networking arena.

I have already started using some of the techniques that Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon share in their book and I am finding that it is easier to describe my business and my value to others.

If you keep showing up to business networking events and leaving empty-handed and non-connected, buy this book, read it and start implementing the many practical ways to connect with others, build lasting business and personal relationships and watch your business grow!

I just finished reading this book last week. It came highly recommended and was actually the subject of a four week book club I participated in. So that's the background.

I would venture to say that most people suffer from various degrees of discomfort when faced with networking events and networking in general. I certainly did. Well, cheer up! This book has come to your rescue.

The authors take you through the entire networking process step-by-step and at a level of detail/strategy I had never thought about. They approach networking as a win-win exchange of "gives" and "gets." They provide helpful tips on how to start and sustain meaningful conversations with total strangers. They guide you through creating an "agenda" for your networking so that you are confident entering a room and so that you leave a networking event satisfied that it was time well spent. They provide a common sense framework for classifying your contacts. And they even provide some specific advice on networking with focused goals (gather sales leads, job hunting, etc.) in mind.

I learned a lot from this book and it will remain on my business book shelf for ready reference over the coming years.

Anne and Lynne present the importance of networking in today's corporate world by teaching that networking is more than handing out your business card. By teaching people about your Character and your Competence, you will build a relationship. Your "Contacts" will "Count".

The book starts from Assessing your skills then to presenting the benefits of Networking.
Then step by step, it teaches you how to build a relationship, a connection with your contacts so that they think about you when the need arises for someone in your field.

Buy it! It is worth it.

I wondered whether I needed the second edition of this book, since I know the first one so well. After skimming through it, I decided I did. In 1987 when the first edition appeared, the concept of networking was new and highly suspect. The authors spent considerable energy showing how networking is not sneaky and manipulative but rather highly ethical. Happily, the second edition doesn't need to defend the practice so strenuously: the preface points out that networking is now the essential professional competency and a major tenet of business development. This edition's appealing layout, visuals, and memory aids for key concepts make it easy to improve your networking skills. I was especially relieved to know that I have a business style (page 25), that I don't have to change it, and that the book will help me enhance it. I have read and re-read the first edition, bought it for friends, and expounded on its teachings. I look forward to doing the same for this edition. Well done!

I found this book to be very useful and practical, especially if you are in the field of multi-level marketing. As with most sales jobs, contacts are critical. This book teaches you how to generate, maintain, and grow contacts. It's easy to read and implement. Great buy!

Fernando
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