By Featured Speaker Wendy L. Kinney
Editor’s Note: When you speak at events, you will more than likely pick up a few business cards. What you do with them after the event can make or break your efforts to grow your business. In this article, Wendy Kinney shares with you some good advice on how to follow up with all the contacts you made.
Networking isn’t what you do at a meeting; it’s what happens because you were at the meeting. Here are the steps:
Follow-Through In Writing With Everyone You Shook Hands With: A quick note or email message will help the people you met remember your name – it’s easier when they read it. REMEMBER: It’s who knows you that counts. QUICK REMINDER: Make sure your follow-through message is about them or their business – not a sales pitch for yours.
Start The Action You Suggested: It’s natural during conversation to have ideas and make suggestions. If you said, “I know someone who. . .” put a call in to the person who wasn’t there, suggesting a 3-way lunch. If you mentioned that you read an article, make a copy, jot a note and pop it in the mail. If you talked about a service that someone else needed, fax through a flyer with a note of endorsement. QUICK REMINDER: One purpose of networking is to build credibility so people will refer their clients to you. Follow-through makes you credible.
Update Your Database: The most valuable networking asset is a database. Whether you keep yours in a Rolodex, on the computer, or on 5×7 color-coordinated index cards, update it after each event. I include the date and function where we met; info about children, pets, vacations, and how I followed through. QUICK REMINDER: This is not the time to add them to your newsletter list.
Networking isn’t what you do when you need more business – networking is the way to insure that you have a business. Network for net worth.
Ready . . . Set . . . Go Make Money! That’s Wendy Kinney‘s methodology, honed from 16 years of living and breathing referral marketing. For information on how making networking profitable, visit www.ReadySetGoMakeMoney.com or call Wendy at 404-784-0699.
