Featured in NAPS
Change Your Life Forever By Networking (NAPSI) – Everyone’s heard of using a circle of network contacts to try to get a job or increase sales at a business. But how about using the networking process to find the best doctor, house of worship, stockbroker, travel agent, shoe repair store, plumber or restaurant?
According to publicity gurus Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin, networking extends to virtually every aspect of life-even dating-and can have an enormous positive effect. Networking is the process of developing a team to support efforts that reach your respective goals and those of network team members. It means forging bonds, sharing information and connecting with people with common objectives and interests who generously give to one another.
“Life is a big network, and either you are ‘in network’ or you’re ‘out of network,'” says Frishman, president of Planned Television Arts, a leading national public relations firm. “Just as you want to be connected online in the network of the Internet, you need to develop your network of people for advice, locating vendors and finding the things that are most important to you. When you just can’t afford to pick the wrong person, but lack the time or knowledge to find an expert, you want to call upon your network.”
In their new book, “Networking Magic: Find the Best-from Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants to Homes, Schools and Jobs” (Adams Media, $12.95), Frishman and Lublin show readers how to effectively and efficiently use networking as a tool for quickly reaching professional and personal goals.
For example, when you move into a new community, you want to locate the best stores to shop in and find community organizations to join. If your child is interested in joining the local soccer league, you need knowledgeable people to guide you. If you need surgery, you want the best doctor. Should you require legal or financial advice, you don’t want to blindly pick someone out of the Yellow Pages.
“Think of networking as a relationship and an extremely valuable marketing tool to help you secure important information about things that are beneficial to you in making life decisions,” says Lublin, president of the strategic consulting firm Promising Promotion. “Most of us, however, only practice transaction networking. That means only interacting with people we think we have to, in order to complete the transaction. That doesn’t cut it if the goal is to get as much complete and varied information as possible.”
Frishman and Lublin remind people that information must remain current-it cannot become stale. To accomplish this, networks must constantly receive an influx of new and relevant information. It is this information that network members take, analyze, and then distribute to those within the network who can make the best use of it.
Look for “Networking Magic” at Barnes & Noble Bookstores (B&N.com) or wherever books are sold. For a free 55-page resource list to help jump start your networking career, go to www.rickfrishman.com.