I've seen it work well for people. Those people spend a lot of time talking to, getting to know and befriending people on the business side of things, like mana

I've seen it work well for people. Those people spend a lot of time talking to, getting to know and befriending people on the business side of things, like managers, VPs, and technical leads. Think of it like sales. Salesmen don't only sell to people they happen to run into at home or at the office. They go out of their way to target (ie: chat up and befriend) people who buy what they sell.