One of my personal goals in networking is to strive to be visible and valuable to the people in my professional life. I don’t want to be one of those people who call you only when I need you; or the kind of person who disappears for long periods of time.

I also don’t want to fall victim to the scary business statistic that I recently heard about:  With every month that you are not in communication, you lose 10% of your influence. Staying in touch is clearly a business and career priority, in the good times and the lean times.

Here’s how I define visible and valuable in the context of networking and relationship building:

• Visible: be “front of mind” with the people that you care about. Communicate regularly, through both active and passive communication channels. Show up. Show your face. Don’t just communicate by email or texting. Let them see the whole human being that you are.
• Valuable:  be a resource, be helpful, know what they need and care about. Help them solve their problems.  Be collaborative, not competitive. Share your ideas, experiences, thoughts, ideas, content and resources that you have discovered and find worthwhile. Introduce people to other people that potentially can help them.

How often should you stay in touch?

The question of frequency of communication comes up when I speak to groups about professional networking and relationship building. The goal is to stay in touch frequently enough to have influence and visibility, without being overbearing.

Think of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:

• “This one is too soft” – i.e., you are out of touch, you don’t reach out, you are neglecting your the people in your network. They start wondering if you are alive or if you simply don’t care enough about them to stay in touch;
• “This was is too hard” – i.e, your actions are too pushy, too much, you appear aggressive or worse yet, desperate or needy because you are constantly calling/emailing;
• “This one is just right” – i.e., you use the appropriate amount of follow-up, demonstrating that you care about the relationship, you are organized and professional and that you have self-confidence in who you are.
• Photo credit: Tito Verano, http://www.flickr.com/photos/88251752@N00/4085056238/

Click here to review guidelines for how often you should stay in touch in the people in your professional circles….

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