I was standing at a high-top table, peacefully eating my chicken tenders and sipping on an Amstel Light. I was standing there with two managers that worked for a client of mine. We were getting to know each other, and I was gaining an understanding about their organization – an integration company in the upper Midwest US. They were also enjoying their appetizers and drinks. That’s when it happened. That’s when he approached our table.
“Hi. My name is David. I work for XYZ Distribution. What do you guys do?”
After we told him what we did, where we lived, etc., he then guided us through random topics of conversation. David was delightful, likeable, and seemed to be a genuine guy. After about 15 minutes of discussion, he saw someone he knew across the room, and excused himself in a polite way.
One of the guys said to me: “Chris, we need sales people like that. Look at that guy work the room and network.”
… And that’s usually where our misperception of networking really hurts us.
We tend to think that outgoing, extroverted people are the best networkers. People with these types of personalities have great potential and look like amazing networkers. However, I’ve noticed that they’re usually very good socializers, but poor networkers.
Let’s take my description of David above as an example. He was excellent at engaging us, sparking conversation, and building rapport; but that was it … he didn’t advance the ball in driving a business relationship. My client is a perfect customer for him, but all he did was chat about random topics. Even though extroverts have the highest potential to be strong networkers, most good networkers that I know are introverted. Networking doesn’t come naturally to them, but they know it’s important and they make themselves very good.
Please click below for the five reasons why introverted people make the best networkers.
