It's Who You Know

Networking has been around since that first enterprising club-maker scratched his name on a piece of bark, stuck it on his freshly pressed wooly mammoth shirt and showed up at the Cave-Dwellers-After-Five cocktail hour. Whatever the time or culture, the principle has been the same: It's not what you know, but whom you know, and the right connection can benefit you both.

Must one be born to a scion of industry or have a letter of introduction from the governor to meet the right people? To find out, Gulfshore Business picked the brains of five successful area businesspeople.

Make Sure They Remember You

Keith Trowbridge, 65, is president and CEO of Executive Quest Inc., a top-tier executive search firm based in Fort Myers for the resort, hospitality and timeshare industry. As founder and CEO of Captran Resorts International, he is recognized as a pioneer of the timeshare concept.

"Aristotle Onassis said he gave only one piece of advice to his son, and that wisdom has stuck with me throughout my career," says Trowbridge. "He said, 'Get yourself a black book and record the name of everyone you meet. Find a reason to reach out and touch them at least once a year.' The Internet makes that so easy, and I continue to follow his advice."

Trowbridge has built "a virtual black book" of 15,000 key industry leaders. Every month, he e-mails a newsletter from his Fort Myers office to everyone on his list. "The newsletter I sent out a few days ago already has generated eight new job orders," he says.

He advises rising young stars to get involved with community and professional organizations. "I encourage you not just to attend lectures and seminars led by the movers and shakers and gurus in your industry, but to serve on their committees. Then you can legitimately drop those names in circles where they mean something.