Building and Maintaining relationship with people who can guide you throughout your career is a must if you want to succeed. Having a good network of industry people, colleagues, business clients, etc. will always help you in receiving guidelines for whatever you do. The quality of relationship you maintain with your networks is directly related to the eagerness they display whenever you need them. Hence, be careful in choosing the people you connect to and have an endless effort to grow it in a healthy manner despite of how much you need them. Go through the following networking skills that every professional needs to have.

5 Networking Skills that Every

Professional Needs to Have

Make a Habit

Do not contact people only when you need some favor from them. Keep in touch with your networks. You do not need to call them and talk for long. You can go through their social media profiles, congratulate them for their accomplishments or you can simply drop a message saying “Hello”. This will help you to ask them for guidance whenever you need without any hesitation.

Differentiate Your Contacts

It is very important that you are aware of whom you are reaching out to. The way you deal with your connections should differ in terms of how and when you contact them. For example, you should not be as casual to your mentors and previous boss as you are to your colleagues. You should keep in mind their schedule and contact them rather than randomly dialing their numbers.

Request in Approach

Always take care of your tone whenever you approach anyone in your contacts. It is you who need them. Your message should adequately highlight positivity. Be clear with your words in order to avoid possible miscommunication.

Have a Focused List

Always make a habit of sorting your contacts. Prepare a list of powerful contacts and approach them. Identify the specific group of people who guide you better than the rest and request for help. It is not worth contacting everyone every time. Identifying the relevant ones will save your time and effort.

Follow Up

Whenever you contact any person for any guidance or reference, don’t disappear once your part is done. Appreciate their response with a Thank You note. Inform them about what is going on, be it in your favor or not. This will help you to get a positive response from them again and again.

Keep in mind all the above things to make your networking skills strong enough to succeed. Don’t just rely on the guidance from the people you contact and be honest in doing your part as well. Research more about the industry you are in and keep growing your network.

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