Connecting More Than Networking

We all know people like them, people who seem to know everyone. They're always able to help -- or if they can't, they know someone who can. You meet them for the first time and in 15 minutes, you're talking with them like you're childhood friends. They're successful, smart and funny, with a likable touch of self-deprecation. And they're interested in everything.

Sprinkled among every walk of life . . . are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.

Traits such as energy, insatiable curiosity and a willingness to take chances seem to be the common thread among connectors -- as well as an insistence that connecting is not the same as networking.

"Networking I see as a means to an end," says Jill Leiderman, executive producer of the late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live. But connecting, she explains, is about using a genuine love of meeting people and making friends to engage and assist one another.

(Please click on the keyword "connecting" to read the full article)


  Networking with others, both online and offline, is necessary for success in marketing and sales but as the above article points out, networking is a means to an end not the end itself. The most successful marketers are also genuine "connectors". For instance, charismatic politicians, ministers and entertainers are also great connectors. Though some persons are "born connectors" that doesn't mean we all can't become or learn to be connectors. It just takes the desire and willingness to be concerned for and helpful to others. Like the Bible says, "it is more blessed to give than to receive". Making friends is also making business partners and customers, something called "connecting".