By Marla Malkin, VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at AttivoERP
Welcome to the first issue of Strategic Connections, our new newsletter focused on the power of strategic partnerships, professional relationships, and the networks that help businesses grow.
Most professionals agree networking is important. Yet few approach it with a strategic, long-term plan.
Networking is the process of building, cultivating, and utilizing mutually beneficial relationships with people to exchange information, contacts, and experience.
Professional service providers offering specialized expertise, or licensed, services for fast-moving industries like manufacturing, distribution, and technology services need to develop a consortium of other professionals. Relationships often become the difference between solving a problem quickly and spending months searching for the right resource.
A simple way to think about networking is through three steps: setting goals, mapping your network, and consistently nurturing the relationships that matter most.
Start With Clear Goals
Before attending events or connecting with new people, it helps to clarify what you want your network to support.
Are you trying to:
- Expand your industry knowledge?
- Build partnerships that help your clients?
- Identify trusted specialists you can bring into complex situations?
- Create a peer group for idea sharing and problem solving?
When you define the purpose of your network, your conversations naturally become more meaningful and focused.
Map Your Existing Network
Most people underestimate the strength of the network they already have. Take a moment to map out the different types of relationships in your professional circle:
- Industry peers
- Clients and past clients
- Strategic partners
- Subject-matter experts
- Community leaders
- Seeing your network visually often reveals gaps, and opportunities, that you may not have noticed before.
The Long-Term Value of Strategic Connections
Effective networking doesn’t end when you collect contacts. It’s important to remember maintaining genuine relationships is what leads to long-term collaboration and success.
Some of the most valuable connections grow from simple habits:
- Checking in periodically with people in your network
- Sharing relevant articles or ideas
- Making introductions between professionals who can help each other
- Showing up consistently at industry or community events
These small actions build trust over time and strengthen the network and professional communities around you. When people are intentional about building relationships, knowledge flows more freely, collaboration becomes easier, and new opportunities emerge for everyone involved.
That’s one of the reasons communities like the National Manufacturing Distribution Exchange (NMDE) exist, to create a space where those relationships can develop naturally.
And like any strategy, networking works best when you approach it with purpose.
In Person vs. Virtual Networking: Which Works Best?
Networking, particularly virtual networking took off during the Pandemic.
With the invigorated use of Zoom and other virtual forums, people could still be brought together behind closed doors, bonding, and forming connections.
During the pandemic, LinkedIn surged, with a 55% increase in conversations and a 60% increase in content creation, making it the primary hub for professional connection and social selling. Using platforms for engagement took off and is still a key element of building a network.
In post-pandemic 2026, virtual networking allows superior efficiency with national and even global reach. Virtual networking groups are still on the rise, but there is a practical necessity for engaging in person.
In person builds rapport through high trust face-to face-interaction. Connections and friendships still build more rapidly when we are in physical proximity to each other, making eye contact.
Common, effective, and professional; interactions occur at in-person professional association and industry-specific events, in major cities and even in smaller business communities.
What works best, In Person or Virtual?
The answer, drum roll, please. A hybrid approach to networking works best. What is your approach? We’d like to hear from you! Send us an email at [email protected]
