Photo by Flickr user ritchielee

"Happy Birthday" is the subject of my favorite networking calls.

Personally, I think everyone, no matter the age, deserves recognition on his or her birthday. I know that I often celebrate mine for weeks on end — usually starting in mid-August and going on until early September.

I strongly suspect that inside each of us is a 7 year old who still wants the cake and the presents and the friends and family all around. Oh, we've learned to hide them — the disappointments of life serving to crush our childlike joy — but we still want our day to be special.

You can bring someone a lot of joy by just giving that 7 year old a little bit of fun on his or her special day.

But how can you find out your contact's birthday? Personally, I use another old Jedi mind trick ...

I ask.

Oh, I ask in a fun way, but I still ask. Usually when I've called just to chat, I tell them that I have a question that I'm required to ask of them for business purposes and I hope they don't mind. Or I might say that I have a somewhat personal question to ask, if they don't mind.

Whatever it is, I go with some sort of preparatory remark that has them thinking about what serious question I'm about to ask. Then when I say "When is your birthday?" they'll laugh and usually have no trouble giving up the information.

If they want to know why, I just tell the truth — that I like to wish people a happy birthday and I can't if I don't know the day.

Of course, there are other ways. A lot of people list their date of birth in Facebook or one of the other social media sites. You can harvest a number of them through there. I wouldn't go for hiring a private investigator. That would be creepy.

When you do have that information, be sure to add it into your tickler file. I also add them to my Google calendar so that it comes up every year automatically.

Then you just have to call on the right day. Please note that I said "call." Sending an email, or a Facebook "wall message" or even a handwritten card is nice and better than not remembering, of course.

It just isn't as personal as them actually hearing your voice. Trust me. It will only take a few moments, and you may very well make their day.

Maybe almost as much as that new bike they got when they were 7.

Greg Peters, founder of The Reluctant Networker LLC, writes, speaks and coaches about good networking practice. For more tips that can help your connections count, go to www.thereluctantnetworker.com.