Do you ever wish that you could be at two events at the same time in order to maximize your networking opportunities?

• The opportunity: There are more and more networking events, meetings, conferences and 1:1 opportunities to connect with new people that could become significant to your business and career future if you take the time to meet them and build a relationship with them.
• The problem: You simply don’t have enough time to do it all, not to mention other physical and financial limitations.
• The solution: Learn to clone yourself in networking.

What do I mean by cloning yourself in networking?

The dictionary defines cloning as “to make a copy of.”

I like to think of it as duplicating yourself. I think that can be done through networking if you use your creativity and learn to leverage your strategic relationships.

Here are a few examples:

1. Give people in your network extra supplies of your business card. Let them know what kind of contacts, leads, prospects you are looking to connect with. When they meet other people in the course of their networking activity, they can actively refer you and hand out your business card (just as you would do if you were there in person);

2. Ask a networking friend to be your eyes and ears. If you can’t make a certain event, find out who else is attending and ask them to share what they learned with you, pick up any important literature for you and be on the look out for connections for you;

3. Social media can help you duplicate yourself by making you globally accessible to others around the clock. People in different parts of the country or world can learn about you and connect with you, even while you are sleeping. That’s networking 24/7. Note: it is important that you carefully manage your social media sites, ensuring that they are up to date, active and that you are responsive. Put a professional photo on your Linkedin.com account to make sure that people can recognize you. A professional photo can also start the rapport building process right away.

Your networking GOAL for this week:

Make strategic decisions about where you invest your time in networking this week. Deliberately push yourself out of your comfort zone to attend different events, meetings and conferences where important people are likely to show up.  For all other events this coming week, use the cloning strategy – ask someone else to represent you. Give them a few of your business cards, help them understand your high level value proposition. Be sure to follow-up with them (your clone) after the event to see how things went and if there was anyone interesting that they met that you also should be connecting with.

• What did you think of this week’s business networking tip? Let me know on Facebook – NetworkingAhead.com/facebook