Boots are her Trademark

Making business contacts, cultivating them and using them in a profitable way is said to be the modern secret of entrepreneurial success. Networking is booming. However, how it really works and who does it best, is still open to debate. America’s Networking Diva Bonnie Ross Park helped German women entrepreneurs find their feet at the Crossing Bridges Convention of the Nuremberg Women as Entrepreneurs Network (FaU).

The convention is going into the last round; after a long series of impulse workshops and communication breaks most of the more than 100 women entrepreneurs at the Crossing Bridges Convention are probably wondering where to put the stack of business cards they have collected. This is when Bonnie Ross Parker begins her speech.

Virtually unknown in Germany, she fills halls in Nuremberg’s American twin town of Atlanta where 1,000 and more women want to learn from her how she manages to make deliberate contacts at conventions like this. In the State of Georgia she’s on the list of the top 100 strongest women. Bonnie Ross Parker calls herself “America’s Networking Diva” that’s her corporate identity. Of course, she is a tough businesswoman herself. In February she got the license for “The Joy of Connecting”. In analogy to Tupperware parties, women are to become “networking experts”.

You must be remembered

“In the United States networking is the way we do business,” she explains smiling kindly at her audience and pauses. A touch of secular reverence can be seen on the exhausted faces of her audience. Bonnie makes an accentuated step towards the middle aisle, all eyes drop to her feet that are clad in black studded cowboy boots.

“If I want to make lasting contact with you, I have to make sure you remember me,” she explains rocking back and forth on her heels. Showy accessories help, the boots are her trademark. 70 pairs sit on her shelves back home in Atlanta. Her husband Phil gave her the first plain pair as a present after she had just met him 16 years ago. It was Phil, too, who encouraged her to write her first book “Walk In My Boots - The Joy of Connecting”. Because, according to Bonnie, to get to know people and to keep the acquaintance going is a skill. She applied this skill when she moved from Washington to Atlanta in 1995 where she didn’t know anyone.

Self-confidence is important

What is most important for networking is self-confidence. Beyond just small talk, self-confidence is immensely helpful to gain the sympathy of one’s interlocutors, by showing that you can advance the other’s ends, for example by introducing him/her to other people or by addressing lone bystanders. “Don’t try to pave the way for business but start a lasting relationship. Business will surely follow,” she advises. There are more than enough possibilities to make contacts. In Atlanta there are more than a hundred each month.

With the German-American women entrepreneur convention “Crossing Bridges”, the FaU Network in Nuremberg has offered another one and also demonstrated to the participants how to handle it. In the future, a database is to ensure that contacts across the Atlantic can be more easily made and maintained. Furthermore, meetings at regular intervals are to stimulate the city partnership on a business level, maybe also for Bonnie. She’s planning to market her licensing system “The Joy of Connecting” not only in the States and maybe some day in Germany.

The concept is not new, but the subject is, at least in this country. A hostess invites women to her house and acts as a moderator for networking. The commercial difference to an afternoon coffee party is that business issues of all those present are discussed, solutions are looked for together, or contact with third parties can be arranged.

Creating and strengthening relationships is part of the business strategy

So much business efficiency is new in Germany,  Bonnie’s unique strategies for women looking for opportunities to support one another is gathering momentum. But in many cases the end justifies the means and the mutual sharing of ideas and resources turns into an openly endorsed strategy and produces results for both parties. Bonnie’s advice is simple and relevant: “Make every contact count.”