When you are the first to follow-up it demonstrates that you are a serious, professional networker so there is nothing better than making the first move. This has huge advantages because you will be instantly and positively remembered by your new contact. We make great efforts attending networking, reaching out to new people, making conversations but often we do not invest equally the same amount of time following this work up.
The hidden secret is to be aware that the real networking starts after an event. Your follow-up activities should account for 60% of your overall efforts. If you don’t follow-up, your network wont grow and your business cards will just collect dust.
It is crucial to be aware that not all of the new connections you make will be active contacts in your network. New contacts can be classified into three types of relationship; direct contact, indirect contact or referral partner. By the end of each conversation you will be able to establish which category will fit each contact. Direct contacts will be relationships that play an active role in your network. Indirect contacts are those that do not have an obvious win-win synergy instantly but as time passes stronger relationships are likely to develop. The partner referral may in turn become a direct or indirect so will need yet further categorisation.
Try to make it a habit, when you get home to review every business card received. On the back of each one, indicate the date you met the contact, make a few notes about your conversation and something you instinctively remember about that person. There are a number of methods for follow-up ranging from email, telephone, and text to social media.
When choosing a method to follow-up there is no right or wrong way because you will need to tailor how you communicate with the new contact according to the type of relationship you want to build. To help you increase the quality of follow-up when you are networking ask your new contact how they would like to be contacted. This illustrates your high interpersonal skills and your respect for their time. It’s the way to stand out in the crowd and be remembered.
It can sometimes be difficult to allocate time to follow-up. Try to allocate a set day in the week and spend between 30mins to an one hour on this important task. Sending emails is the most common method to follow-up. You should aim to send an email to all new contacts regardless of the level of relationship and in addition to other methods you select for that individual to ensure they have a record of your communication and your contact details. An additional phone call would be appropriate if you want to arrange a coffee meeting to learn more about the new contact face to face. They could become a new client, business partner, mentor, or resource for your career development.
When sending emails your focus should initially be reconnecting, rather than driving sales propositions. Keep the contents of your message brief but ensure that you indicate the date you met the person, where you met them and always thank them for their time.
Social media is a fast and innovative tool to integrate both on and offline follow-up activities. Every contact you build a relationship with should be stored in Linkedin. It has a bonus which is the facility to create your very own online networking database. Linkedin is the world’s largest professional network. Go through your business cards to find your contacts on Linkedin and send a connection request. Linkedin covers all business industries, job roles, part-time, full-time even free-launchers and it does not matter what your job role is. My grandmother who is in her 70s has a profile on Linkedin, her job role entered as retired Senior Health Consultant. Twitter and Facebook are also fantastic for following-up because you can learn more about your new contacts and their current activities by viewing their instant posts and messages. And all this in double quick time.
Bella Rareworld, Managing Director of BellaNetworking Events, provides strategic networking solutions by managing every stage of a company’s networking life cycle to fit their marketing strategy. Go to www.bellanetworking.com, email her at [email protected] or call 0845 269 8036. Bella Rareworld has over 70 testimonials on Linkedin on http://www.linkedin.com/in/rareworld For BellaNetworking Training dates:http://bellatrainingdates.eventbrite.com/ You can also follow her on twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/BellaNetworking
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