We have all hear the saying, all is fair in love and war, and while this may be true, all if not fair in business networking.
As an organizer for several networking groups I have seen a number of violations that people do. Sometimes on purpose, most times the violation is unintentional. I always find it amazing that the on purpose violations believe that others don't know about the violation. Reality is most are aware when they witness someone overstepping courtesy.
90% of the people out networking are honest people with integrity and humility. Many times when someone violates networking etiquette it is usually due to them just simply not being aware of the unwritten "rules".
If you attend networking meetings then there are just a few things to be aware of.
Most networking meeting have a set time to accomplish an agenda. Business introductions are where people will violate business etiquette.
Business introductions are usually a timed event during a meeting. This is where you want to be prepared to help the audience to get to know you. This is for your elevator speech and time adherence is important. You demonstrate that others are important by not abusing your allotted time.
Another propriety for network meetings is to pay attention to who is a member and the type of business they have to make sure if you invite someone to the meeting you are not violating membership exclusivity.
Most network meeting have a time set aside for "Thank you" and "annoucements", and you should not being doing another commercial. This time is set aside to help others in a business network group to shine, it is not a time to buff up your business. Acknowledging the services and offerings of other people is what will bring people into a networking group.
Finally, attending a meeting one time and expecting to make sales is wishful thinking. This is a huge mistake and is obviously coming from someone who is used to being paid for their time. If the person continues to do business with this mentality it will not be long before they are back to a job where they will be paid for their time. (Which is what they may have wanted)
These are just a few of the networking etiquette "rules" that are common when building a business through network meetings.
There are many more but the above seem to be violated more often than most.
