38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cookbook for entrepreneurs to use when creating their networking plan for business development!, May 2, 2007
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!
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best Books Written on Networking, March 1, 2009
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.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, Straightforward Book on Networking, May 31, 2007
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).
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