Delta Mu Delta Networking Dinner Write Up

This post was written by Stephen Dade, who owns Dade Sales and Marketing Consultation.  Steve has had success with networking, and his paper is very relevant to the power of networking.

Before the networking dinner, I was excited because most of my success has come through some sort of networking.  I got my first client because she was a guest speaker in Professional Selling Skills 1 over the summer.  I got invited to do a series of seminars through the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce because of networking at one of those events late in the summer. I felt that this opportunity would likely present another opportunity for me, and it did.  I did not expect for the networking to yield as great of an opportunity as it has, and it really has me thinking of my future.

Photo from the networking dinner

           

When the event started, they had every student and guest standing and networking right near the entrance.  It was very chaotic, and it was very difficult to find somebody other than another student to talk to.  I also assume that it was just as chaotic and stressful for the guests that were entering.  It was like finding a job on a site like Monster.com, there are a few jobs and too many people applying for those jobs.  I would estimate the student to guest ratio at ten to one, which made things difficult from the beginning.

            Once things got started, and everybody was finding their seats it was much easier to get acquainted with somebody that was worth networking with.  Each table had a guest that was successful in their field, and the guest at my table, Colin, was amazing.  He started his own business building websites and logos for companies, which is very similar to my business of creating and maintaining social media campaigns for businesses.  As soon as he introduced himself I was excited, and knew that I wanted to talk to him one on one later on after dinner.  He was very close with Eileen Bennett, who has taught two of my classes and is familiar with my business.  Eileen had already talked with him about me and had recommended that he talk with me at some point.

            After dinner, I met with Colin and Professor Bennett at the bar right across from the banquet hall that we were in.  We had some drinks together and got acquainted.  He told me that Professor Bennett had highly recommended me, and Professor Bennett said that Colin was a good person to be in business with.  After we had gotten to know each other and found a lot of common ground, we started to talk business.  He told me that he had never seen a college student hand him a business card, and that he was very impressed.  He told me a little bit about his business; how it got started and how it operates.  We decided that either in January or June that I should get back in touch with him so that he can bring me on as a salesperson for his company.  He is currently the only salesperson for his company, and he has had trouble finding somebody that he can trust to do the job that also knows the ins and outs of his business.

            I was amazed that he found that he could trust me enough to come on as a salesperson during our first meeting.  It just goes to show that knowing Eileen Bennett and doing very well in her courses has paid off since she obviously had a great deal of influence in Colin's decisions.  It is very nice to know that there are many professors here that are willing to go the extra mile in seeing their students succeed.  Going forward, I have some big decisions to make since I have this offer from Colin and an offer from my current employer.  Going with my current employer will be the safer decision, and there is a possibility of doing both at the same time.  I am very grateful to have so many opportunities at this point in my life, and they are mostly all due to networking events like this.