What to do when you should be out there networking

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What to do when you should be out there networking

With Chinese New Year in full swing and the weather bitterly cold, things will be a bit quiet on the networking front for the next week or so. So, what can you do while you're not out there meeting new people? Just because you're not out there networking, doesn't mean you can't strengthen your network...

1. Get your contacts organised

If you're anything like me, you'll have folders and folders full of other people's business cards with no way of finding a specific someone other than digging through it. It's boring, takes forever and the risk of paper-cuts is never far away. Why not take this downtime to set up a CRM (customer relationship management) system to get your contacts in order? Not only will your contacts' information be just a few keystrokes away, but you may save a small fortune on Band-Aids.

If you have your own web server and the necessary tech-savvy, you can do this for free with the open-source version of SugarCRM. If you have a less technical bent you can try Highrise, an easy-to-use web-based CRM system (available in free and paid options)

Of course, you still have to put all your contacts' data into the system. The most effective ways are:

Type it into a spreadsheet manually, save as ".csv format" and then import into your CRM
Buy a business card scanner (around 400 RMB at the DigiMall last time we checked), scan and export to ".csv format"
Hire a poor schmuck to do the whole repetitive task for you.

After that you'll have fast access to everyone in your network, enabling swifter referrals and a heckuva lot more convenience than you had before. Just remember to keep backups!

2. Make someone's day with a testimonial

Who doesn't love a bit of praise? Unfortunately, with our always-on lifestyles we don't always have time to praise and recommend people as we should. Luckily, the two most popular online networking services, LinkedIn and Xing both offer features that let you do just that. In Xing, click on someone's Guestbook, and in LinkedIn just click "Recommend this person" on their profile page. Doing things that make someone's day, like writing a testimonial, are a great way to kick off the boomerang effect, namely helping others will encourage them to help you in return.

3. Get back in touch

Stuck in town over the holidays? Seize this opportunity to catch up with those you keep meaning to get reconnect with. Give them a phone call, email or MSN message and see what's up. With all the free time during the holidays, it makes sense to get together over a beer/coffee/jam sandwich/whatever to see what's new and complain about the cold together.