Global Marketing Plus

Now that the networking meeting is over, there are some things you can do to insure your time at the meeting was worthwhile.  If you follow these steps, you will have success, if you don’t follow these steps, you will probably be disappointed at your results.

14. Follow up fast with a phone call.  If you meet someone at the meeting that showed interest in doing business with you, you need to follow-up immediately.  I call the next day to arrange a meeting.

You might not be able to make follow-up appointments with everyone you have met, but if there could be any future business value from these contacts, you can at least call the next day.  First meetings is where we can make first impressions, but following up by phone will cement them.

15. Arrange a one-on-one with everyone.  Begin with those contacts that you feel might use your services.  Then after you have met with all those, do one-on-ones with those that you think may be able to refer new business to you.  Then move on to one-on-ones with the rest.  You never know who might know someone who needs your services.

A one-on-one is a meeting you arrange to meet with each other.  Plan on at least a half-an-hour to perform these.  You could meet in your office or theirs.  You could also meet at a restaurant and pay for their lunch.  The important thing is to meet. 

When you meet, be the first one to begin the conversation and ask about their business!  Also ask them what kind of referrals they are looking for.  How can you help them!  You must show genuine interest in them and what they do.  By doing this, you will build a relationship and they will feel obligated to ask you about your business (in most cases).

If you can think of a referral to give them, so much the better.  I have found the more you give, the more you receive and the more successful your one-on-one will be.

If you are networking correctly, you should be doing two or three one-on-ones each week.

16. Put the names of your new contacts on your mailing list.  You should be sending out news clippings, reports, or announcements that you think will be of interest to your contacts.  Include information about your recent activities.

17. Always send a thank-you note or place a call to say thank-you to anyone who sends you a referral.  Then keep them informed as to how the referral is progressing.  When someone has sent you several referrals or one that is particularly profitable, give the person that referred them to you some additional acknowledgement.  Take the person to dinner or send flowers.

18. Don’t over do it.  Don’t try to cram in every event on the calendar;  you will get sick and tired of the effort. Keep your networking calendar to a manageable level.  Two well-selected events per week are ample for most full-time businesses.  Remember that networking takes more time AFTER the meeting than just the meeting.  You not only want to make contacts, you want to have time to follow them up and enjoy the process.  Pace yourself!  If you are too busy to do the follow up, you might be attending too many networking events.

There you have it, 18 tips to making your networking successful.  Tomorrow we will talk about overcoming the major misgivings about networking.

 Until then, have a profitable day!