After two decades of running the world’s largest networking organization, I've certainly seen a lot of networking faux pas. I’ve put together a few of the most glaring blunders in networking etiquette I’ve seen over the years that you should avoid.

Faux Pas #1: Not responding quickly to referral partners
This one really troubles me. I can't imagine getting a call from a networking partner and not responding immediately, but unfortunately, this seems to happen with some regularity. Not long ago, someone I know had a referral to give a gentleman in his networking group. He called the associate and left a message at his office as soon as he knew the referral was viable. A day went by without a return call, so he called again, saying it was important to connect.

He was finally able to speak to his networking associate at their next meeting. He asked him why he didn't return his call and the associate said, "If I knew you had a referral for me, I would've called you back immediately." He still gave the referral at the meeting, and, to no one's surprise, the person referred ended up working with another vendor because no one got back to him in a timely manner.

Treating each of your networking partners as one of your best clients is critical. Return phone calls from them immediately, as it speaks to your credibility and reliability as a professional. 

There are countless examples of people receiving referrals at networking groups and then contacting the referral a few days later. The old phrase, "If you snooze, you lose," is apropos here. If the referral knows you had her name and number on Monday and took your time calling, that sends a negative message about your business.

Faux Pas #2:Confusing networking with direct selling
One of my company's directors struck up a conversation with a woman business owner at a networking function. When the business owner asked our director what she did, she said she helps owners build their businesses through networking and referrals. The business owner smiled and said, "I’m really good at networking. I’ve been doing it for a long, long time."

Curious, our director asked her, "So what’s your secret?" She stood up straight and said, "Well, a friend and I enter a room together. We imagine drawing a line down the middle. She takes the left side; I take the right side. We agree to meet at a certain time to see who collected the most cards. The loser buys the other one lunch."

The director curiously inquired, "So what do you do with all those cards?" Again, proudly, the business owner said, "I enter them into my distribution list and begin to send them information about my services. Since I have all their information, they’re all good prospects, right?"

This is a classic example of an entrepreneur not understanding that networking isn't about simply gathering contact information and following up on it later. That's nothing more than glorified cold calling. It gives me the chills. I used to teach cold calling techniques to business people. And I did it enough to know that I didn’t want to ever do it again. I've devoted my entire professional life to teaching the business community that there's a better way to build long-term business.

Faux Pas #3: Abusing the relationship
There are many ways I’ve seen networking partners abuse relationships, but the following story is one of the most glaring examples.

A woman I know was invited to attend a 50th birthday party of an associate who used to belong to a networking group in which she also participated. They once had a long-term working relationship, and, out of respect, she decided to attend. When she got to the door, she looked through the window and noticed people were arranged in a semicircle, listening to a presenter in front of an easel board. When she stepped in, it was very obvious the partygoers were being recruited for a business opportunity. As resentful as the woman felt, she and other mutual friends found it difficult to remove themselves from the "birthday party," despite the fact that the only refreshment being served was the company’s diet shake!  

Never mislead your networking partners. For that matter, never mislead anyone. Trust is everything when you're talking about relationship networking. Inviting people to a "birthday party" that turns out to be a business opportunity pitch isn't being honest with the very people with whom you want to build a trusting relationship.

All these faux pas directly relate to good people skills. The prevailing theme of all three is to treat your referral partners and potential referral partners with professionalism and care. Use networking opportunities to meet people and begin the process of developing a genuine relationship and treat your referral partner like you would a top client. Lastly, always network in a way that builds credibility and trust--be candid in telling your referral partners what you need and what you’re asking of them. Do these things and you’ll avoid some serious mistakes in relationship networking.

Q: I recently started a business building Web sites for small and midsized businesses. I haven't been successful generating business by cold-calling. How can I use the Internet to reach potential clients that may be interested in establishing a Web presence?

A: Selling a service, like Web design, online is not as different from selling a product as you might think. In fact, almost all the traffic techniques used to drive visitors to product-based Web sites can also be applied to service-based sites.

However, there are some specific online techniques you should definitely use to your advantage. Let's take a look at some of the strategies you can use to generate a steady stream of potential clients for your online Web design business:

The sole proprietorship is the simplest business form under which one can operate a business. The sole proprietorship is not a legal entity. It simply refers to a person who owns the business and is personally responsible for its debts. A sole proprietorship can operate under the name of its owner or it can do business under a fictitious name, such as Nancy's Nail Salon. The fictitious name is simply a trade name--it does not create a legal entity separate from the sole proprietor owner.

The sole proprietorship is a popular business form due to its simplicity, ease of setup, and nominal cost. A sole proprietor need only register his or her name and secure local licenses, and the sole proprietor is ready for business. A distinct disadvantage, however, is that the owner of a sole proprietorship remains personally liable for all the business's debts. So, if a sole proprietor business runs into financial trouble, creditors can bring lawsuits against the business owner. If such suits are successful, the owner will have to pay the business debts with his or her own money.

The owner of a sole proprietorship typically signs contracts in his or her own name, because the sole proprietorship has no separate identity under the law. The sole proprietor owner will typically have customers write checks in the owner's name, even if the business uses a fictitious name. Sole proprietor owners can, and often do, commingle personal and business property and funds, something that partnerships, LLCs and corporations cannot do. Sole proprietorships often have their bank accounts in the name of the owner. Sole proprietors need not observe formalities such as voting and meetings associated with the more complex business forms. Sole proprietorships can bring lawsuits (and can be sued) using the name of the sole proprietor owner. Many businesses begin as sole proprietorships and graduate to more complex business forms as the business develops.

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must develop the ability to select and offer the right products or services to your customers in a competitive market. More than any other factor, your ability to make this choice will determine your success or failure.

Fully 80 percent of the products and services being consumed today are different from those that were being consumed five years ago. And five years from today, fully 80 percent of the products being used will be new and different from those being used today.

There are thousands of products and services available to consumers today. And there are unlimited opportunities for you to enter the marketplace and compete effectively with a new product or service that's better in some way than what's already being offered by your competitors. Remember, your skill at choosing that product or service is critical to your success.

The most important thing you can do before deciding what to sell is to think. And the more you think about a product or service before you bring it to market, the better your decisions will be.

So how do you start? To make a product successful, you must be personally and emotionally committed to its success. Once you've got a product or service in mind, you need to begin with a self-analysis:

• What kinds of products do you like, enjoy, consume and benefit from?
• Do you like the product or service you're planning to sell?
• Can you see yourself getting excited about this product or service?
• Would you buy it and use it yourself?
• Would you sell it to your mother, your best friend, your next-door neighbor?
• Can you see yourself selling this product or service for the next five to 10 years?
• Is this a product or service that you intensely desire to bring to the marketplace?

Then analyze the product or service from the customer's point of view:

• What does the product achieve, avoid or preserve for the customer?
• How does the product improve your customer's life or work?
• What kind of customers will you be selling the product to?
• Do you personally like the customers who'll be buying this product or service?

Imagine that you've hired a management consultant to get advice on introducing this new product or service. They're going to cut right to the chase and ask you these very objective, bottom-line questions about the product:

• Is there a real demand for the product at the price you'll have to charge?
• Is the demand large enough for you to make a profit?
• Is the demand concentrated enough so you can advertise, sell and deliver the product at a reasonable expense?

Dig even deeper into the potential success of your product or service by determining the answer to the following critical questions:

• What is to be sold, exactly? Describe the product in terms of what it does for the customer.
• To whom is the product going to be sold? Describe your ideal customer.
• What price will you have to charge for the product for it to be profitable?
• Who's going to sell the product?
• How is the product to be sold? What method of sales, or process of promotion, will you use?
• How is the product or service to be manufactured or produced?
• How is the product going to be paid for and by whom?
• How is the product or service going to be delivered to the customer?
• How is it going to be serviced, repaired, guaranteed or replaced?

And you're not done yet. There are a series of additional questions you need to ask before you make a final decision on a new product or service offering.

• Is there a real need for the product or service in today's market?
• Is your new product or service better than anything else currently available?
• What are the three ways that your product is superior to your competition?
• Is your product lower priced or of better quality than anything else that is available?
• Do you think you could become the number-one supplier in the market for this product or service?

For a product or service to succeed, it must be the right product, being sold at the right time, to the right customer, in the right market. It must be produced and sold by the right company, and the right people. What you have to decide is this: Is this product right for you?