By Julie Chance Networking is often identified as a key business building activity for small business owners, especially those just getting started. Often we think of networking as meeting as many new people as possible. However often, as was pointed out to me following a recent presentation I gave on networking, we overlook a key group of people as we set out to develop our network. And that is those people we already know.

Incorporating people you already know into your networking activities is crucial because you already have a relationship with them.

They are people with whom you already have credibility. They already know quality of your work.

Therefore, you don’t have to go through relationship and credibility building stages before these contacts are willing to do business with you or recommend you to others.

Many of people you already know may be people you haven’t spoken with in awhile and most certainly if you are just getting started with your business, they have known you in another context. So how do you begin to develop an active network of these individuals?

Develop a list. Start by developing a list of everyone you have worked for in past, everyone who has worked for you, and those people you have worked with. If it does not raise legal or ethical issues, consider clients or customers you have worked with in former positions. Include family, friends and associates from other activities that you have participated in such as civic organizations, church or social/hobby groups. Go through your address book, both one you currently use and any old ones you might have lying around; review membership lists of any organizations you belong to; if you have phone directories for any companies you used to work for or client listings from these companies review those.

Prioritize list. If you are like most people, your list will probably be pretty long and it may seem like a daunting task to begin reconnecting and re-establishing relationships with those you are no longer in contact with. Prioritize list with those who are most likely to have a need for your services or know someone who is likely to have a need at top.

Everywhere you look there is a company willing to pay people to participate in their surveys. It seems like a win win situation, participants get paid for providing their opinion, market research company gets paid for conducting research and companies, that fund research, gathers valuable data.

But, how valuable is that data?

Well run surveys are still vital to those companies who wish to research a market and obtain feedback on particular products or services. Many people are willing to express an opinion, and a small incentive like a chance to win a prize or a small payment is often all that is required to encourage people to give up their time and participate.

For years market research companies have assembled groups of participants into survey pools or survey panels, groups of people willing to provide an opinion on a range of subjects. Often incentives of nominal value were offered as a 'thank you' for participant's time; however explosion of 'paid for taking surveys' websites has spawned a new profession - professional survey participant (PSP).

For companies that are relying on market research generated by panels of PSP's question they must ask is how flawed is data that they are relying on? Does average PSP represent a cross section of society or a niche? What social group do they really belong to and is it smart for a company to base research on groups of people that are willing to comment part time, and sometimes, full time, on anything and everything?