How to network with supply and demands businesses

Hi! I've spent my career in Procurement which includes building and maintaining relationships with suppliers for companies. Companies rely on suppliers to provide the materials (ie circuit boards for Iphones if you're Apple, labels or plastic bottles in you're Dasani) and services (ie Data center services if you're FaceBook, Architects to build Google's offices), they need to be in business. A lot of what we do is understanding the supply (how much they have to sell) and demand (how much companies want their materials/services and are willing to pay) trends for these suppliers. The way we do this is to talk directly the Suppliers and talking generally with my peers (meaning other people that do what I do at other companies). I meet folks to network with through industry conferences, friends, friends of friends, former co-workers. Sometimes it's also pretty random- I'll strike up a conversation with someone at a coffee shop and find that we do the same thing and know similar people. You never know who you'll meet and what they do for a living or who they know (one of my friends met her future boss in an airport and then 2 years later ended up seeing her again when she interviewed for her job). It's important to always be professional and personable and ask questions (to people that seem open to it).

I find that attending trade shows or expo help to meet suppliers of the industry. Also joining professional associations in your field will help too. In these environments everyone are in the similar industry, hence good networking.

You can start with national or local chapter of Institute of Supply Management. They offer student and trial programs for people interested in developing their career in Supply Management, such as procurement, sourcing, contract negotiation, business deal making. This is their website: https://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org/index.cfm?SSO=1