What Have You Got to Give?

Have you ever attended a networking event that on your way to the event, the thought first and foremost in your mind was about what you hoped to get? Isn't that why we network in the first place? We hope to grow our businesses by creating new relationships, right? We all want to grow our businesses. We all want to sell our products, get more clients, build our organizations, live a life of where we feel secure about paying our bills, that's what we all want, that's why we network in the first place, right?

The problem is that if we enter a networking event thinking about what we want to get, people can feel it. Ninety percent of all communication is non verbal. People can literally hear our hearts. If that is true, and it is, maybe it would serve us better to attend our networking events with a different question on our hearts, like "What Have I Got to Give?" What might happen if we ask ourselves what we have to give that might help someone? Whether it is an encouraging word, a great idea, a bit of information or marketing tip that will help someone solve a problem, a referral, a sale, a lead? What if when we entered our networking event, we actually paid attention to others and looked for ways to make a positive difference in their businesses and their lives.

I believe that when we think about what we have to give to help someone, or how we can contribute to others, people can hear our intentions and they respond gratefully. Networking can provide us an opportunity to contribute and be generous. Contribution and generosity actually cause us to feel hopeful and happy. When people feel hopeful and happy they actually are more generous. It is a wonderful, self perpetuating, optimistic outlook that reinforces positive connections.

So if you really want the most benefit out of every networking experience, you might want to change the question on your mind when you network from "I wonder what I will get from this event?" to "What have I got to give?"

Dawn Billings, CEO & Founder of The Heart Link Network and www.TheHeartAlliance.com (a no cost women's networking online community) and Link to Success Business Networking