Networking the right way

Take a look at this posting by Tim Klabunde (William H. Gordon Associates, Inc., Chantilly, VA) in his CofeBuz.com blog. He quotes Ellen Talley in an article in Building Long Island and concludes with this observation:

What I like about Ellen’s story is her focus on the development of a new relationship. Notice that Ellen didn’t start by giving an elevator pitch or trading business cards with the principal, rather she focused on making a connection. Good networkers know that when you start by making a connection, rather than a sales pitch, the rest will follow.

Exactly.

Today, I received a gracious thank you note from Tim. This is the form of marketing I advocate -- not the horrendous stuff of spam, cold calls, and artificial, plastic "networking" where the objective is to try (usually unsuccessfully) to grab business rather than build relationships.