Many people believe that networking is going out to hunt down new targets/new people for their network. Growing your network is a good and needed asset, however and this is the hard part. You MUST keep in contact with your current base. Having 1,000 people in your Linked In looks great, however do they reach out to you, and do you reach out to them on a regular basis?
When people reach out to me and they have a ton of contacts I usually refuse their request. Do they truly have the time and desire to stay in contact with me?
I also weed out people on a monthly basis. If they do not stay in contact with me, if they do not reply to my questions, introductions, they obviously do not have the time for me. And that is fine because in this age of mass electronic networking, very little is personal and truly one on one.