South African Networking Thought Leader Karl Smith Live in Zimbabwe - "Fall in Love with Marketing and Selling”

“I’ve  been called a ‘networking guru’ by one of South Africa’s leading financial magazines , which made me proud, and a ‘personal brand expert’ by one of South Africa’s largest radio talk shows, which I think is cool because I may be the only former regulatory bureaucrat to also be a  business author”, says Karl Smith. Ask him about business networking and you’ll get a mile-wide grin, crackling energy and a lively discussion of how networking can make every facet of career and business more engaging, fun and successful.

For the very first time, he will be appearing in Harare, Zimbabwe from 1st to 2nd September 2014 to present at a national sales conference.

Ask him about why business networking is so important and you’ll get a detailed response: “I think that most professionals and entrepreneurs understand at some level the wisdom of the adage, ‘It's not what you know; it's who you know and whether they know what you know’. Indeed, building the right professional relationships is critical for business and career success. Why? It’s the best professional tool for people who want to get up to speed in a new job fast, get the job done, get behind organizational initiatives, get the most from conferences and meetings, get the business, get a job, get a promotion and get ahead.

And on a macro level a wider and deeper network of alliances can help companies across industries to be profitable. They can deploy their network to raise the company’s industry profile, lower its costs, boost its efficiency and differentiate itself.  However they need to ask the big question: How do we make our entire portfolio of networks work for us, to give us advantage, given our strategy and the industry?”

Smith is on a mission to kill the cocktail function image of networking which is often characterized by the meeting, greeting and business cards ritual.

Smith says he’s been polling audiences for years on the issue of networking functions and business cards. He asks audiences: “How many of you got business as a result of attending functions and giving out business cards?” No hands go up. “If we don’t get business after attending functions and giving out business cards, why are we still doing it?” 

Smith asks. “Because, of course, we need business — I get the concept. However, people do business with people who they know, like and trust”.