It’s bad networking (and it’s bad manners!)
I once had a contact ask me at an event: ‘Is there anyone important here?’ (I replied (sarcastically) – ‘You mean apart from you?’). If that’s your approach, don’t go networking – you’re writing off far too many people and immediately limiting your opportunities
We simply don’t know another person or who they know until we’ve met and spoken with them. And we should never, ever make a ‘they won’t be able to help me/buy from me’ assessment based on their business/organisation or job title. On average, every individual knows 1000 other people. If we don’t make the effort then we lose the opportunity to be introduced to any of these 1000
There’s only one approach to follow and that’s to get to know others by speaking with them. However, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with targeting specific events to attend and/or individuals to speak with. What you must ask yourself though is – are you going there to make sales or develop relationships to make more sales? The former is sales, the latter is networking, that leads to more sales
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