When you network, it involves who you get to know, and who they know, and who they know. This is called Six Degrees of Separation, theory of psychologist Stanley Milgram. Milgram theorised that there was a chain of six people or less connecting us to everyone else on planet, and this is also where Six Degrees Network gets its name from. This, to us, is exactly what networking is about: working that chain, getting your details through to person at other end, by getting to know people who can pass that information on. Word-of-mouth marketing relies on this being a small world, and networking makes it even smaller. This is also why IT consultant, for example, shouldn’t ignore mechanic or florist – firstly it’s rude, and secondly who knows who they know?

So how do you get your name down that chain? It’s unfortunate but true, that meeting a truly nice person is a rare occurrence these days. People remember meeting them when they do, and they feel an obligation to do something nice for them in return. Business card thruster guy will be bunched in with all rest that person has ever met, but you, sincere, friendly person who they chewed fat with for half an hour about their business, their family and life in general, will be remembered. And if someone ever mentions your type of service to them in future, you get all-important “You know, I met a really nice guy/girl who does that called…” Just in case business card thruster guy is reading this and wonders what my point is here, this is called a referral. Its ok, I know you haven’t seen one before. Don’t be scared.

Get creative and use these questions in a variety of ways! Suggestions:

§ Fine-tune or change them so they fit you better § Use concepts in creating your interview questions § Use concepts in questions you ask reference providers § Turn them into a rating system for narrowing down your final candidate selections

Take special notice here that all of these questions begin with HOW. Typically, it's not WHAT manager does that creates issues; it's HOW he/she goes about it that can open door to disaster. People join companies or businesses, but they leave because of their managers.