As summer creeps in, kids all over the country are strapping on shin guards, helmets, and cleats in anticipation joining a sports team. As professionals, we too are looking for teams (organizations) to join.

Our ‘teams’ are often found by networking online.　 However, to be truly successful, you need to build a foundation that integrates the online with the offline. Not only can social media tools help you build your social capital (connections and networks) to accelerate your business relationships, it’s also a great tool to explore organizations to join. Our tips below are for both online and offline.

 As a kid, I used to trudge over to the local community center to play bingo on a Saturday afternoon (ok, Iowa was really boring in the dead of winter). 

Sitting on rock hard metal chairs, I would lay out six or seven bingo cards in front of me, grasping my bottle of highlighter ink with the mushy sponge top.  N9H4DRY5HMS9

Far be it for us to draw a relationship between a clogged sink drain and a stopped up sales pipeline, but humor us for a minute.

Despite the dismal economy,  there are firms planning to connect with clients and FOF (Friends of the Firm) this holiday season over icy cocktails and gooey finger foods.   Granted the old party budget may have been slashed, but those holiday diehards are fine tuning the party planning on a smaller scale.