Five Mistakes To Make When Networking

In this video, I share the five least important skills for networking according to a survey of 3400 business people. Knowing what not to do can be as important as knowing what to do. Furthermore, it is also clear from these results that great networkers and great salespeople have different skill sets.

In conclusion, many people think you need to be an extrovert to be a good networker, but that’s not what the survey says. Here are five least important skills for networking.

You don’t need to be:

1. Fearless
2. A salesperson
3. A self-promoter
4. Direct
5. Social media savvy

That’s right: social media skills are not an indicator of great networking ability. The under-30 crowd ranked social media savvy second-to-last instead of last. It’s also clear from these results that great networkers and great salespeople have different skill sets.

So if you want to be a great networker, understand the five least important skills to be a great networker because you may be doing things in terms of being very direct and being fearless and asking for the sale, these kinds of things that actually may not serve you in the way that you hoped that they would serve you. The combination of knowing what to do as well as what not to do, I think, will help you to network like a pro.