Part IV

How to understand and leverage behavioural styles

We’ve looked at networking freestyle at events as well as online and we’ve discovered a few places where you can meet new people and start with hello. As with many aspects of your business, building a good connection base needs to start with a strategy or plan so that your efforts can be measured when you reach your end point. If you don’t know what or who you’re trying to reach, you won’t know if you’ve been successful or not.

Read the following chapters to learn:

• how to create a strategy for expanding your business connections

• who or what you can leverage to make new connections

• who you’re talking to by assessing their behavioural profile.

Chapter 12

Create a strategy

Strategy is straightforward — just pick a general direction and implement like hell.

Jack Welch

In order to expand your business connections by talking to more strangers, you’ll need a strategy. Strategy can be a scary word, but don’t get too hung up on it. It doesn’t need to be a 10-page document, just a general direction with an end point and actions to get there. If you break into a cold sweat just thinking about devising a strategy, then simply change the word ‘strategy’ to ‘plan’; it works just the same.

Great lawyers hit the courtroom with a strategy or plan already in mind because if they don’t, they will undoubtedly fail. They know which direction they want to take a witness in, and which questions and answers will get them there. This in ...

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