Why Networking Meetings Matter
Recall that networking is defined as “the act of consistently establishing, building, and maintaining mutual trust and respect with your professional peers.” Building, establishing, and maintaining mutual trust and respect with other professionals requires time, there is no shortcut. Meeting people at a networking event or in passing is a great way to get someone’s initial contact information or briefly catch up with someone you know. It is not how one successfully builds a deeper relationship with another person. A deeper relationship will require a commitment of time in an individual or small group setting, such as a coffee, breakfast, lunch, drinks, office meeting, or something similar.
Sitting with someone face to face is an opportunity to engage in a manner that allows each individual to focus on building the relationship further. This level of engagement allows for a deeper level of conversation and to get to know one another without typical distractions. It also fosters an environment to share more personal details and allows the conversation to flow. This builds rapport among both you and the individual(s), leading to increased mutual trust and respect.
As building a strong network is critical to success in professional services, leveraging this type of interaction to build deeper, long-lasting professional relationships is of utmost importance. Networking events are an excellent tool for meeting many new contacts and starting relationships; networking meetings are the tool for deepening each of those relationships.
Final Thought
Networking meetings are an essential tool to building deeper relationships within your network. Mastering this type of individual in-person interaction will lead to successfully building a deep and well connected network.