Championship Networking Tip by Eric Shaw: Ask Productive Questions Your financial fortune is determined by your questions, but asking, “Did you watch the game last night?” toward the beginning of a new encounter can be harmful. Hooks are integral, but you must find them first and use them with discretion. For example, you don’t want…

And, remember, the way you do anything is the way you do everything! Championship Networking is a column on Actors Reporter, a site on the Actors Podcast Network, a Pepper Jay Production.

Build Relationships; Do Not Sell The greatest misconception about networking is that you are selling. No, no no. As a result, when someone tries to sell you something at a networking or social event, there is something phony about the whole endeavor. If you feel that you’ve been trying to sell yourself or your product…

Foster Word of Mouth Only our words mean anything. With consistent, positive word of mouth, you don’t have to buy anything. With consistent, positive word of mouth, you don’t have to create anything. With consistent, positive word of mouth, you don’t have to borrow anything. You don’t need to increase your visibility in the Yellow…

Approach Because You Have To How do you catch an elephant? Go where the elephants are. How typical is this? You phone somebody you really want to meet; he’s an upper level professional, perhaps, and he doesn’t return your call. He doesn’t know you; why should he? Sure, it’s frustrating. He doesn’t want to call…

If you can’t be accountable, then you can’t do business. Period. There is frankly nothing more disturbing to me than to refer a deal to someone who ultimately proves unaccountable to my client. An excuse is just another reason for failure. The definition of an excuse is to defend a broken commitment. Too many excuses…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ftFTq5EDNE[/youtube] You know those professionals who hang with the prominent speaker or guest of honor at a public or invitation-ocranly engagement? They know exactly what they are doing. The All Cities Resource Group once held a Doger Stadium mixer. Everybody wanted to spend time with Frank McCourt, the owner of the Dodgers, who happened to…

Who in business doesn’t love to talk about themselves? When you have a breakfast or lunch meeting with a fellow networker, the natural tendency is to dominate the conversation to the point where you may want to tell the other party everything. That means that the other person asked you the right questions—or no question…

Give, Give, Give Championship Networking by Eric Shaw. Today, Eric teaches us the core of networking: Give … give … give. Messages are sent both with action and inaction. Here’s an experiment. Instead of networking to find out what someone can do for you, don’t think about yourself. Give, give, give. There is a school…