The Networking Survival Guide: Get the Success You Want by Tapping Into the People You Know: Get the Success You Want by Tapping Into the People You K

Great networking opportunities are constantly around us, but never confuse networking with schmoozing. That's one of the great lessons of Diane Darling's "The Networking Survival Guide: Get the Success You Want by Tapping Into the People You Know." As someone who coaches independent professionals on how to find new clients, I found the book to be excellent. Schmoozing has the connotation that you are getting something from someone with no benefit to the other person, says Darling. So you schmooze, you lose. Instead, to woo and win new clients, you need to be willing to give before you get in networking situations.

I received this book as a gift since my friend knows that I'm continuing to refine my professional "soft" skills. Networking has always been one area that I've been terrified of. I've never been able to strategically meet new people and build upon the relationships that I had. Diane's book breaks down networking to the bare essentials and makes it very easy to understand. The important thing is that this book makes it easy to make small successes every day and soon enough, you're a networking maniac! I've been successful using her advice in a very short time. Ultimately, you have to make the change and be more positive about meeting people and enhancing your professional and personal relationships but Diane's book is a great coach! I would recommend this book highly to anyone looking to build this very important skill.

In the nineties, business people discovered the importance of relationships: it was easier, safer and more reliable to deal with people you knew and trusted. The evolution of this ninety's insight is the explosion we see today of networking groups. Businesses and business people alike understand the importance and potential of networking. Unfortunately for most of them, it is potential unrealized. For the truth is most business people don't know how to effectively network. They view networking as nothing more than showing up to an event, shaking some hands, handing out business card and waiting for the business to flow. It rarely does. Networking, however, works and can be a fecund source of new business and new opportunities- if one knows how to do it effectively. In "The Networking Survival Guide" Diana Darling teaches you how to do just that. In 237 pages, Ms Darling covers not just the ABC's of effective networking but the complete alphabet on effective networking. What is networking? How do I get started and where do I go? How do I prepare to network and what tools do I need? How do I start, stop and transition a networking conversation? What are some of the best practices when I'm face to face and when I'm not? How do I follow-up on my networking opportunities? What do I do if I'm uncomfortable about networking? In a style that is easy, engaging and economical , Ms Darling addresses all of these questions and more. In doing so, she provides not just the know-how, but the how-to. You can open her book up to any page and gain value, a rare accomplishment even for a self-help book. If you want to learn how to network, or if you are already networking and want to do it better, pick up this book. You won't be disappointed.

I have enjoyed hearing Diane speak on this topic in the past and have eagerly awaited the release of her first book. As I expected, it is a superbly pragmatic approach to refining a business and life skill that everyone needs, but few truly embrace, and even fewer maximize to its full potential. Diane empowers the reader through such practical, easy-to-follow advice, that one would almost have to feel silly to be intimidated in networking situations after reading this book. It's not rocket science, but a set of wonderfully helpful reminders and tips that take the anxiety (and mystery) out of networking. Read this book and you will actually look forward to networking events in the future.

I met Diane at a conference recently and she approached me afterwards about some ideas she had been kicking around. She emanated professionalism and a charisma that I couldn't put my hands on. I found out later she had written The Networking Survival Guide.Reading the book over the next several days was interesting. I found that the author was the paragon of networking skills. She really practices what she preaches and it shows in actions she takes (from the two-pump handshake to the business card case she uses.)The Networking Survival Guide has a plethora of tools, tips, and ideas that WILL improve your networking skills if you practice so that the skills become a part of who you are. It is packed with experiences of interesting people from various walks of life who have personal network stories that expanded my horizons and conceptions about the value of networking and the many shapes and forms that it takes.The book is a quick read, but your Return On Reading Investment (RORI) will be off the charts, if you can become a more powerful networker. Diane demonstrates again and again in the book that it is networks that really make things happen in your life. Read the book and then use it as a way to increase your network... Who knows what interesting things might happen?!