BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT mistake The networking that causes distrust. Are you making it? By Matt Handal Special to Canadian Design and Construction Report I see it all the time. People go to networking events and immediately give people a reason to distrust them. And worst of all, they have no idea they are doing it. So, I’m going to explain what this mistake is and give you an easy way to avoid it. But first, let me tell you a personal story. I used to say, “I’m not a shmoozer.” I hated going to net- working events because I had to turn into someone else, someone that wasn’t me. 10 – Fall 2014 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report Oh man, it was painful. Here I was walking into an event with people twice my age. I was wearing a suit and tie, which would only come out for funerals and networking events. I knew what I had to do…get these people to give my firm work. I had to get these people, who I had nothing in common with, to like me so I could steal away their project before someone else did. It was a lot of pressure, which made me nervous. Just going up to people, knowing that I wanted some- thing from them, was awkward. But I put on a big smile and did my best to play mister friendly sales guy (you know the person we’ve all met a million times).