Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know How for Cash, Clients, and Career Success (Paperback)

~ (Author), Lynne Waymon (Author) "Taking the self-assessment will give you an overview of the specific behaviors, attitudes, and strategies that make up the skill of networking..." (more)
Key Phrases: referral group, networking event, networking relationships, Make Your Contacts Count, Rarely Sometimes Frequently Almost Always, Listen Generously (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"..well written and very compelling. If you read this book, you will be dusting off your meeting suit." -- Central New York Business Journal

"this book is the networking blueprint, a must-read for anyone on the hunt for sky's-the limit professional success." -- BIZLIFE July 2002

This is the definitive book on person-to-person networking. It's a complete methodology, ie,step-by-step "cookbook", on how to network. -- Business Ledger, March 25, 2002

Product Description

Setting up a network of contacts is the single most important thing people can do to protect and advance their careers. All businesspeople, no matter what they do for a living, can use networking know-how to reach their goals, and this book is the best place to start. Filled with quizzes, checklists, and sample conversations, the book opens with a Strategic Networking Activities self-assessment test and lets readers chart their increasing skills as they master the strategies needed to effectively build business relationships.

Readers will learn how to avoid the Top 20 Networking Turn-offs, create a workplace contact map, and build strategic alliances. In addition, they'll master the Six Stages of Networking, as well as how to make the most of corporate events and memberships. By the time readers are done, not only will they be able to meet people more easily, but they'll also know how to remember their new contacts' names and follow up effectively! This book is the blueprint to follow for anyone trying to position themselves for career advancement or sales success.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (December 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814470939
• ISBN-13: 978-0814470930
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #702,745 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get in Contact with Your Future, March 13, 2002

By	Jack N. Cole (Columbia, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book's a "keeper." It's so good, I use it for prizes in my classes--in Marketing, in Teaching Adults, in Information Technology, and in Organization Development/Human Resources. As we change with the business environment this century, people--contacts--are our primary resources, support systems, and the source of much of the value with which we transact.

In Marketing, it crowns the experience I call "The Nifty Business Card Contest" (it's fitting). In Teaching Adults, it conveys the basic skills that should be included in a broad variety of today's--and tomorrow's--learning experiences and in "double loop" learning activities that bring the learner to truly capitalize on experience. In Information Technology, it helps readers extend and make useful their human networks--a skill not much taught in IT courses. Finally, in Organization Development, it provides a big dose of strategies, skills, approaches and techniques that are so important in organizations and for people undergoing change.

Waymon and Baber have obviously recollected their experiences well--and translated them into thoroughly useful words of guidance for readers wanting to begin or to vastly improve their networking activities. They provide examples of what to say in stressful or uncomfortable situations, how to handle a received business card and "trigger" a request for your own, and how to organize and follow up occasions where you meet people.

Perhaps the most useful information relates to how to preplan for situations in which you are to meet people--how to select and to craft your agenda and to work for its fulfillment in the people you meet. It is obvious that the greatest talents in communication and perceptivity are at play here--and those of us whose idea of networking is "Hi! I'll call you sometime" will be greatly appreciative both of the depth this book brings to the process and of the practical guidance and checklists it provides.

It is a credit to the craft of writing the authors have mastered that you can read this book from front to back, back to front, or skip around with equal pleasure and a high degree of derived value. Readers who pick this book up will almost certainly be better networkers when they put it down, whether they read a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter or the entire book. This review would be longer, but I have to go meet a few people now.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading For Those Who Wish to Stay Employed, January 21, 2004

By	jan boxer (Potomac, MD United States) - See all my reviews

As a career and life planning coach, I have refered hundreds of clients to the business books written by Baber and Waymon. Make Your Contacts Count is their latest book about building business relationships through strategic networking. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to stay employed and/or maximize his/her professional contributions.

The authors make the important point that building professional relationships can not be left to chance because the quality of our business relationships directly relates to employability, career advancement and overall professional success. The premise of the book is networking efforts must be ongoing and planned, but for many the thought of having to talk with strangers, pitch a product or service, or even answer the envitable "What do you do?" is difficult. This book anticipates people's fears and resistance and helps the reader to explore ways to comfortably begin to increase visability and impact inside and outside their organizations.

The layout of Make Your Contacts Count is engaging and interactive. It is easy to skim and bold faced "tips" highlight many pages. This is a "how-to" style reference book that will stand the test of time, buy it as an investment in your future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Review of Making Your Contacts Count, August 17, 2006

By	Karol I. Taylor (Hyattsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Making Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Cash, Clients, and Career Success
by Anne Baber & Lynne Waymon; reviewed by Karol Taylor, Owner, Taylor Your Career ([e-mail])

Does this sound familiar? Someone hands you a business card without first introducing himself. Perhaps he forces himself into a conversation and then expects you to participate. Unaware that he is turning you off, he launches into a monologue, not realizing that a dialogue eludes him. Is it any wonder that you barely respond and throw away the card as soon as he (or she) moves on? Ineffective behaviors such as these happen often enough that some individuals use them to justify their unwillingness to network, thereby rejecting one of the single most effective ways to enjoy business and personal success.

In their book, Making Your Contacts Count, authors Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon, encourage readers to incorporate effective networking practices into their everyday lives. The authors define networking as "the deliberate process of exchanging information, resources, support, and access in a way that creates mutually beneficial relationships for personal and professional success." The book provides a practical, can-do approach that leads to effective personal and professional outcomes.

Successful networking relationships begin by establishing trust. The reason the scenario in the opening paragraph was such a turn-off was that the would-be networker had not taken the time to establish a trust relationship. Trust develops over a number of interactions and conversations - the authors estimate 6 to 8 - in which you provide examples of your trustworthiness and observe your contact's behavior. As in any relationship, make sure this is one you want to nurture, and then begin establishing trust by showing your Character and revealing your Competence.

The book identifies the following ways to exhibit Character:
» Be unfailingly reliable
» Meet deadlines
» Go for the win/win solution
» Treat everyone you meet fairly
» Speak well of people even when they are not present
» Collaborate rather than compete
» When something goes wrong, make it right
» Compensate generously for your failure
» Go the extra mile
» Respect other people's time and possessions.

The book lists the following areas that demonstrate Competence. Let your developing network know you:
» Have earned the proper credentials
» Stay at the cutting edge of your profession
» Have won praise and awards from your peers
» Take lifelong learning seriously
» Are cited as an expert in the trade press or mass media
» Teach or mentor others
» Consult with others to share your expertise
» Do the job right the first time
» Handle the "little stuff" with care
» Follow through to make sure your work meets or exceeds expectations.

Ignore your internal Critic. Sometimes you're just not comfortable with the networking process. In these situations, perhaps you give yourself negative messages in which you criticize your networking attempts. By criticizing yourself you are dooming yourself to failure before you begin! The book shares ways to turn your Critic into a Coach who champions your every effort.

Start by writing affirmations such as "I always know just what to say" or "I am an outstanding networker." Speak aloud your affirmations at least three times each day, saying them over and over until you begin to comprehend their truth. Silencing your negative thoughts leads to a positive attitude, which will be welcomed at the next networking event.

Places for networking include membership organizations (such as the Society for Technical Communication), conventions, "plugging in" to technology, building and mobilizing informal workplace networks. People to network with include past and present coworkers and bosses, current and former classmates, neighbors, volunteers you have worked with, college professors or continuing education instructors, leisure time acquaintances, relatives, people who provide services to you, and people and groups with similar interests as yours.

In order to feel okay about a network experience, the authors suggest developing a "give and get" agenda. Items on your "give" agenda might be ideas, expertise, phone numbers, and/or introductions you want to offer. Baber and Waymon emphasize the need to "give first and give freely." Your "get" agenda might include things you want to locate, connect with, create, understand, learn, and/or to know about. "Get" items might include tips on growing tomatoes, a child care provider, a convenient summer day camp for your child, a publisher for your book, a good plumber, handyman, doctor, lawyer, dentist, accountant, etc.

The authors also advocate for "listening generously." Actively listening is hard work that takes concentration and focus, which the authors call "exercising your ears." Readers are encouraged to take turns talking, to be "seriously curious" about what the other person is saying, and to understand the benefits of knowing when to be quiet.

Share your business card when you have found a connection. The authors say: "Approach conversations by asking yourself - `I wonder what she needs that I can provide? Let's see if I can figure it out.' Or `I know what I am looking for today. I wonder if I can find someone who has the information I need.'" Using this approach can place you in a thoughtful conversation which leads to an exchange of cards. When you find a reason to exchange cards you have extended the relationship beyond the immediate event.

Although the title of the book appears to target consultants and private practitioners, the book contains advice that, if put into practice, can work for anyone. Incorporating the strategies shared in the book could prove to be a short term challenge that leads to long term rewards.