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Updated April 30, 2025
Having a strong network and being an active contributor demonstrates your value as a business leader. Being well-connected makes you a more impactful resource within your company and in your specialized field.
Through networking, you gain insider information that puts you ahead of the competition, secure introductions to the right contacts through mutual connections, and continuously expand your business perspective by learning through others.
Despite these benefits, why do so few revenue-contributing professionals have a strong network when the rewards are great?
In this article, I’ll share specific strategies for expanding your networking scope and techniques for managing different network segments to maximize the return on your time investment.
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Key Article Takeaways
- Some of your most valuable leads will come from your network
- Develop a broad-scale network that incorporates all aspects of your life
- Invest time to nurture your network to stay top-of-mind
- Help contacts solve their challenges to stimulate communication
- Make networking your way of life
The Value of a Strong Network
Some of your most valuable leads will come through your network.
Perhaps you received a tip about a great sales candidate for your team who was considering a change, or maybe a contact from an industry association meeting referred your last big deal.
Yet, why do few revenue-contributing professionals invest ample time to maintain a strong network when the rewards are so great?
I’ve observed that most people focus solely on short-term, lead-generating networking. They miss significant opportunities by not developing and nurturing a broader network that pays dividends over time.
The secret to building a successful network is to make networking your way of life, a career-long investment
As a Fractional Sales Leader, I help sellers maximize their sales pipeline. While digital methods for lead generation have expanded, most industries still require meaningful human interaction for mutual benefit—the essence of NETWORKING.
Develop Broad Network Segments
The first step is building a broad-scale network by leveraging relationships from various areas and phases of your life. Consider these network segments:
- Influential co-workers and customers from current and previous positions
- Present and past industry association relationships
- Established Referral Partners across various industries
- Recognized business leaders in your personal life
- Impactful contacts met through non-profit volunteer involvement
- University classmates and alumni connections
To nurture professional relationships, focus on delivering genuine value that makes connecting worthwhile—whether through insightful social media content, meaningful conversations at networking events, or collaborative small group interactions.
Enter each relationship with an investment mindset and genuine desire to address the challenges your contacts face.
By putting others first with a servant leadership approach, you generate trust and opportunities to demonstrate your expertise.
The more you give, the more likely these connections will help you when needed.
Nurture Network Segments Strategically
Next, develop a plan to nurture your network and remain top-of-mind. Remember that all contacts are valuable, even those not directly aligned with your industry.
Countless times, I’ve had past contacts unexpectedly emerge with client leads or assistance that greatly benefited other members in my network.
When developing network segments that could become reciprocal lead sources, it’s critical that you are intentional about investing one-on-one time to evolve casual contacts into trusted advisor relationships.
For instance, I give special attention to my Referral Partner segment—contacts who provide complementary services to my target market at the same buyer level and geographic area.
These partners become valuable resources in the Business Ecosystem I’ve built to comprehensively serve my clients.
In my article, “Is the Time You Spend Networking Paying Off?”, I shared methods that help Referral Partner networks quickly reach their potential.
Make Networking Your Lifestyle
Time constraints are the most common roadblock I hear from executives, sales leaders, and salespeople for insufficient networking.
Becoming well-connected doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistent, manageable focus applied during normal business activities while naturally extending into your personal life.
Stay alert for connection opportunities, even in unexpected places. When you build trust through a spontaneous conversation, you’ve potentially created your best lead.
I also invest time discovering where my customers gather, whether in LinkedIn groups or local industry association meetings. This gives me opportunities to demonstrate my value.
By applying this mindset throughout your professional and personal life, you create a continuous business development engine. As you demonstrate your expertise to an expanding circle, eventually someone’s contact will need your services.
Focus on Providing Value, Not Selling
On social media, cutting through the noise is challenging. Your high-value contacts receive countless messages from competitors and industry solicitations daily.
A generic message might earn a LinkedIn connection, but nothing more. Instead, research your target, understand their challenges, and find ways to help without selling.
Your goal should be stimulating meaningful interaction by reaching out with clear intention. Ultimately, you want to progress from preliminary correspondence to voice conversations where genuine relationships form.
Similarly, you also need to find a way to relay value in networking relationships.
When your thoughtful, helpful message sparks a conversation, go beyond surface-level exchanges—ask questions and explore deeper.
Avoid being just another product peddler on LinkedIn and other platforms. If you connect and immediately request a quick 15-minute phone call to discuss your product or service, they likely won’t respond… ever.
Your Network is Your Net Worth
Creating and nurturing a strong network is a career-long process, and the time to begin is now.
While networking rarely generates immediate contracts, the return on your investment delivers dividends in both short and long-term ways.
Positioning yourself as a resource and building strong connections are essential for success in today’s business world.
If you need help guiding your revenue-generating resources to become more effective networkers, don’t hesitate to reach out. As I hope this article has demonstrated, I am sincerely here to help!
You may contact me (404) 271-6767 or dan@transcendentsales.com , or book a call through my Scheduling Tool.
Dan Mahony
President
I am part of a national group of Senior Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion to help business leaders exponentially grow their revenue.
