From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy, 2nd Edition

It's so much easier if you stay on each other's minds on an ongoing basis. Then, when you need to ask for a job or a lead, your contact with this person doesn't come out of the blue.

Connectors

These are your most important professional relationships. They are the go-to people in your community/profession, your mentors, and the ones who can open doors to opportunity. While they may include your favorite clients, it's not necessarily a client/supplier relationship and if it is, that is not necessarily the focus of conversation when you're networking together.

When you talk with them, the tone is one of finding mutually beneficial scenarios and moving ideas forward. True connectors make introductions for you once they've decided they are on your side. It is essential that they like you, trust you, and believe you're competent before they'll open their network to you.

At minimum you want to have a one-on-one meaningful interaction with these people twice a year, and ideally, once a quarter. This means sharing a meal together, talking during a private in-office meeting, a sports outing, or something else of mutual interest that can deepen the relationship.

In addition to meaningful one-on-one time approximately every quarter, you'll want to run into them in a group or casual capacity about once a month. You never want more than six weeks to go by without some connection. This could be seeing each other at a charity event or networking function, or by way of a phone call or e-mail. ...