When you make networking contacts, how do you treat those new contacts who can help you?

I hope you do better than this guy. I was asked by a contact at Texas Workforce Solutions if I could answer some questions about project management certification and the chapter for a new client.  Quite appropriately, they approached me first, to confirm it was OK to share my email address. The response I got was from an email address using an account name matching a cartoon character. 

I answered questions, provided some additional information, good, basic advice.  He got my name wrong. He also didn't show up at the recommended chapter meeting he was going to go to.  No additional follow up either. No response to my follow up, asking him how he was doing.

He did, however, a few months later, sent me spam.  I responded to him asking him why he sent it to me, and I got a curt "wasn't me must be a virus" answer.   Last week, I got more spam, this time, intentional, and political.  This time, I asked him to remove my email address from his mailing list.  The response was "who are you anyway?"

Hopefully, you're smart enough to realize the small and not so small mistakes in this set of interactions (8).  If not, then better learn some basic networking etiquette, and quickly. 


Networking: the Marathon, not the Sprint

Be professional

Help Them Help YOU (and make them want to help you, not regret it)

Give Back

Get Active

Don’t Burn Bridges

Keep Cultivating

Additional Reading/Resources:

CareerJournal's Networking Articles

Being Helpful Is the Secret To Business Networking

Lack the Gift of Gab? You Can Still Network

Moving Too Fast Actually Kills Your Networking

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz 

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