Conventional wisdom holds that joining a variety of professional organizations is one of the best ways to network. How can you tell if the fees you pay are worth it? Business consultant Lorraine Ball of Roundpeg says figuring out which groups to stick with is as easy as keeping track of the people you meet.

Each time you meet a potential client, add them to an electronic database. Ball uses ACT. But Goldman, Outlook or even a simple Excel spreadsheet work just as well. Record contact details, what you discussed and—most important—how you made the connection. "For every one of the active 957 contacts in my database," says Ball, "I know precisely how I met them." To keep the database relevant, periodically purge contacts with whom you've had no further interaction.

As prospects become projects, you'll have an instant record of which sources and events send the most business your way. "On any given day," she says, "I can calculate what percentage of my business, number of customers or gross revenue is coming as the result of a particular networking activity."

The Po!nt: Don't forget that you need to do more than collect names. If you don't track the source of each name, you won't know which networking activities are worthy of further investment.

Source: Roundpeg. To learn more, go to Lorraine Ball's Web site.

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