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When it comes to business networking, these days you could fill your calendar with non-stop meetings and meals every Monday through Friday. In fact, it may seem like that’s what has happened as you try to sort through the piles of cards, flyers and increased email and snail mail traffic that have become part of your work environment after attending events. Looking at everything I send to the shredder each week, it’s sad to see how much time, energy and money is wasted by so many who employ tactics that are clearly “old school.”
The economy has changed. The world and how we all work has changed. Yet when it comes to following up after networking, people, for the most part, continue to engage in practices that were, at best, marginal even three - five years ago. So, I come to you all with one request: it’s time to stop the madness. Let me tell you how to do this.
Déjà Vu, Again
Whether you’re a lean mean selling machine or just a very aggressive networker, odds are high you will run into the same people at multiple events. Whether or not you remember names or conversations to tie everything together is your problem. My problem comes with your follow up. It’s OK, after the first time we meet, if you contact me (whether requested or not) for an additional conversation or possibility of a meeting. However, it’s not OK if, after we see each other at subsequent events, you make the same call and have the same conversation – with no recollection that we’ve been down this road once (or twice) before.
Hard though it may be to believe, this happens a lot – and not just to me. And when it does, it makes people angry. It says you didn’t listen to the conversation or pay attention the first time you followed up. That causes the “possibilities” inherent from the act of networking to vanish. It also ensures that, at the next event, when these people see you coming, they’ll go the other way. So stop wasting your networking efforts and take better notes! Why else was customer relationship management software invented?
Take A Zen Approach
When you get back to the office after an event, there are usually a small number of contacts (between one and 10) you will contact immediately. This is because there is some reason to do so – and mutually agreed upon by both parties. As for the rest of the people you met or talked with, don’t just blindly add them to your mailing lists or send out huge packages of materials touting how great you are. With all the clutter and competition for attention these days, people seek to do business with someone they feel connected to or have a relationship with. While this may fly in the face of prevailing wisdom, one encounter does not a sale – or even a prospect – make. Get to know them a bit more at future events. See where that takes you. By taking a “wait and see” approach you might actually create a relationship with future benefits.
Size Doesn’t Matter
The ability to beam contact information between PDA devices or scan cards into your computer can save you some time but I believe it’s created a monster – the big fat hairy data base. It isn’t important how many names you keep in your contact management software or that you can send out an electronic newsletter to thousands. What matters is that the recipients of your information want to hear from you. Don’t assume because we met at a networking event that I’m dying to be on your mailing list. Don’t abuse the concept of permission marketing by sending first and asking for forgiveness later. We are all battling spam – whether electronic or not. Let me ask for your information – because I feel some kind of connection to you.
Follow Faith Hill’s Advice
When Country Western singer Faith Hill tells everyone to “Just Breathe,” you would do well to listen – and apply that philosophy to your post networking activities. Take a beat – or two or three. Don’t blindly flood mailboxes with unwanted and un-requested. Don’t waste time (yours and mine) with meaningless phone attempts. Give your networking contacts some breathing room and the chance to create a promise of a relationship. Admittedly you will have less to do in the short term. However, in the long run, you’ll be doing things you can bank on.
Copyright Randi B Enterprises, Inc., February, 2005. All rights reserved.
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