Business Networking For Dummies

Chapter 9

Handling One-to-Ones

In This chapter

Understanding the point of one-to-one meetings in networking

Choosing who to have a one-to-one with

Knowing what to say (and not to say)

You may think that you know what someone does, from listening to their introduction, or looking at their brochure and website. But really getting to know someone takes a little more time. The point of the one-to-one meetings in networking terms is to open your relationship a little further and enable you to find out not only about your contact’s business, but also to get to know them as a person.

Getting the Scoop on One-to-Ones

Ditch the jargon. A one-to-one is simply a conversation with someone else from your networking circles. Whether or not your networking group has formal one-to-ones, getting to know other people in business helps you develop relationships.

The phrase ‘one-to-one’ can mean slightly different things. Different networking groups have different ‘rules’ around how and when to have a one-to-one with another member.

At BNI, for example, a one-to-one is to be conducted between networking meetings, arranged privately between members. At 4Networking, in contrast, the one-to-ones happen ...