"How to Win Friends and Influence People."

Dale Carnegie literally wrote book on networking long before skill even had a name.

That wonderful book has deservedly sold millions of copies worldwide, yet skill of effective networking is still vastly underestimated.

There are seven magic words that every person in business should engrave on their hearts:

'People do business with people they like.'

Networking, as it has come to be understood, is a two- part equation:

1. Expand your list of contacts.

2. Make each of your contacts your friend.

There is simply no point in knowing someone who hates you, or even has no opinion of you. You must have a positive connection. Nothing else will do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up heart of a true friend by writing his name on wings of a dragon. -- Chinese Proverb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are hundreds of little ways that you can be friendly and positive towards people. I have selected seven which I have proved time and again make a big difference.

1. Call someone up just to say hello.

We are all inundated with calls and emails from people who want something from us. It is nature of this busy world we live in.

But sometimes it is wonderful to get a call from someone who just wants to say hello and asks how you are. Be that somebody. Make a point of NOT wanting anything.

2. Be first to offer help.

Downsizing, redundancy and job loss is a fact of life. But how we react to other people's misfortune makes a world of difference.

When you hear that someone you know, however slightly, is out of work, call them up and offer to help.

I was 'downsized' some years ago (it hurt) and I will never forget a man who called me up very next morning and offered me a desk and a phone in his office any time I needed it, as a base for job hunting. I barely knew this guy, and I didn't take him up on it, but his generous offer made him a hero in my eyes.

There are lots of ways you can offer people support - and one day they will be riding high again.

3. If you want a meeting, suggest coffee.

Or cakes, or cookies. There is something about informal eating that bonds people.

The bloom is off rose, roosters are coming home to roost – use whatever metaphor fits your business or culture! But, get net/net – "new digital economy" is starting to get down to some real fundamentals. Don't get caught in downturn, learn to grow organically using targeted marketing and customer referenceability. New rules for surviving meltdown:

1)Cash is king – husband your marketing resources as much as you can by driving hard bargains with all suppliers - or perish thought use equity to leverage your cash on hand. If your vendor/partners take some equity (as we do in our clients) then you know they are really committed to success of your company! And, with downturn in IPO market, you may be saving yourself some money in long run.

2)Love your customers – be absolutely committed to your customers, do what it takes to make them successful in marketplace and they will respond in kind by recommending your firm to members of their community. And, yes, you can ask them if they will recommend other potential clients.

3)Give you customers some equity in your company – this marries them to your firm (see two above) and helps to motivate them to help your company grow and prosper.

4)Co-brand or partner where you can – meaning, find a partner in your market segment who is doing well and develop a revenue share (classic win/win) model which helps both of you grow by sharing market information.

5)Get digital in your marketing processes, if your business model is focused on delivering goods and services via web. Every marketing type is recommending opt-in e-mail this Fall, but they are right, it works well; prices are dropping - YesMail for instance, has an $150 gross CPM Holiday Promo underway for most of categories, with about 7M opt-in addresses available!