Publisher's Synopsis
Business has always relied on effective interaction between people to generate opportunities. People acquire a vast amount of their success, breakthroughs, knowledge and resources through other people. You have probably heard or read stories of men and women, young and old who met complete strangers in the aircraft, buses, churches, mosques, neighborhoods, conferences, parties etc. and who opened up to these strangers, introduced themselves, started a conversation; subsequently developed a relationship, managed the contacts and had their lives, businesses, careers, income, etc. turned around for good. It can be that simple. But the key word here is MET! They met the strangers. There was a contact. There was a connection. Sometimes, these are meetings between lowly placed people and highly influential people. At other times, it can be a meeting between someone who needed information and another person that had information, between someone who needed help and one who had hel; between one who needed direction and one who knew the way. There was a contact. There was a meeting. A contact, a meeting with the potentials to change lives.Talent alone will not save you in today's economy. Oh talent is good and important, but there are many talented musicians wasting in the streets today; there are many footballers talented and good enough to play in the biggest clubs in the world, who are wasting in bad pitches across the country; there are many talented painters, fashion designers, etc. who are living in penury. These people have no challenge with talent. They have a big issue with contacts. They have a big issue with the quality of their contacts.The traditional advice to get more training and education is fantastic, but insufficient on its own to launch you. Your education and qualifications will not necessarily guarantee you a good job. Of course, I encourage you to get a good education and obtain good qualifications. But I am sure that there were classmates of yours who were head and shoulders more intelligent than you, who made better grades, who have MBAs from the best universities in the world but who are earning peanuts. The problem is not with their education, qualification or competence. The problem is with the quality of their contacts.Your product, price, promotion and place will not on their own guarantee you good sales. You know why? For every product of your company, other companies have similar products - only with a different name. Other companies can give as much discount as you; can make as much noise by way of jingles and adverts as you do; can open as many branches as your company. If you are a sales person, your figures will be a reflection of the number and quality of the contacts that you have.The government will not save you. No matter how good a government is with policies and programs, you will still find poor people. And no matter how bad a government is, you will still find people who are doing very well. Sure, it's critical that government provides the enabling environment for us to prosper. However, you need more than your talent, you need more than your education, you need more than your product and you need more than yourself the government to save you.You need quality contacts. You need a good network. Business and social networking is the bridge between your latent talent or potential and the crystallization of the potential.This book offers you practical tips, techniques and step-by-step actions you can start implementing immediately to meet and connect to the right individuals and the groups that you desperately need to achieve your targets, dreams and aspirations at work, in business and in your life.
