---
title: Business Networking Techniques - 5 Smart Ones that Created Results
description: Business Networking Techniques - 5 Smart Ones that Created Results
---

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# [Business Networking Techniques - 5 Smart Ones that Created Results](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/business-networking-techniques-that-created-results)

 Written by [Mike Brown](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/author/mike-brown) | Oct 7, 2014 9:50:20 AM

It is always fascinating [how business professionals approach business networking](https://www.brainzooming.com/5-little-secrets-of-more-giving-business-networking/7581/).

This is particularly true when you get to see how business professionals set themselves apart through smart business networking techniques.

### Business Networking Techniques that Created Results

Here are five recent business networking techniques that stood out:

**1. When meeting someone new, call attention to your shared networks.**

One way to highlight your common network is printing your shared list of LinkedIn connections. This simple business networking technique can move a conversation ahead in positive ways. At a recent meeting, the other individual handed me a hard copy list of shared LinkedIn connections; the list was surprisingly extensive. Scanning it, I discovered a childhood friend who SHOULD be a prospect for the other individual’s service, and I provided background on why he should follow up with my friend.

**2. Don't give up making a meeting happen, even if the introduction is months old.**

Several people contacted me right before my wife, Cyndi, had surgery and my availability for non-essential meetings shrank dramatically. One individual followed up four months later before abandoning the possibility of making the meeting happen. His email and phone call combo instigated our in-person meeting months after the initial introduction occurred.

<https://www.brainzooming.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/networking-guys-4.jpg>

**3. Follow up an informal first meeting with a second invitation right away.**

At the closing Content Marketing World session, I sat next to someone new. We hit it off, had a wonderful conversation, and identified [Pam Didner as a shared contact](https://www.brainzooming.com/innovative-ideas-4-keys-to-sustainable-idea-sourcing-by-pam-didner/18461/). Before parting company, he invited me to a dinner he was having with a client. Back at the hotel and planning to head to another event I had already paid to attend, he texted me with specifics on where they were headed. His invitation and follow up turned into a great dinner getting to know him better along with two of his clients.

**4. Make your follow-up personal, not formulaic.**

After the recent networking event prompting the "you have to keep up your blog current once you start it" post, one person I didn’t get to meet reached out via LinkedIn with more than the standard, "Join my network” message. He recounted leaving the event early to tend to a diabetic pet. Having had a diabetic pet ourselves, his personalized message created an instant connection.

**5. Have a good memory (or good notes) of why you met originally met someone.**

Right before Cyndi's surgery, I did squeeze in a networking meeting with someone new instigated by friend and blog reader, Michael Irvin. With everything else on my mind, I remembered it was a great connection, but by the time we reconnected, I could not remember the specifics. The other individual came to our second meeting, however, with detail on why we were meeting again and what we hoped to accomplish. What a great boost to a productive second meeting.

### What have you seen work with smart business networking techniques recently?

*[Mike Brown](https://www.brainzooming.com/?page_id=1197)*

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