Follow Up For Success

by Bob WoodsNetworking and dating can be a lot alike, and yet very different.In many cases, dating starts out with a crowded room of people who may be lookingto connect with one another. The room could be a bar, a bookstore, or most anyother place. Factors like volume, brightness and decor are all over the place, andwillingness to meet others varies wildly from person to person.While everyone in these situations may not be looking to make a connection, twopeople who do meet can exchange ways to get in touch with one another after theevening draws to a close. Usually it's a phone number; or nowadays, an e-mailaddress. Hopefully, the number isn't to a local massage parlor or police station, andthe e-mail doesn't get you subscribed to a spam list.With networking, a room that's (hopefully) filled with people wanting to do businessis

de rigeur

. The noise level is so loud, it is sometimes hard to hear. Sometimes suchfunctions are in a bar; they can happen most anyplace, though. People are bumpinginto one another trying to get to the other side of the room, but are instead stoppedby...other people who want to network. Business cards and other printed materialare flying left and right; it's enough to give an environmentalist an enteric-coatedmigraine. Aside from that environmentalist, everyone else seems to be having agood time. You get the feeling that business is being conducted in the room. You can see the similarities and differences. The one big unifying element in bothdating and networking? If one party doesn't follow up with the other, nothing getsdone – ever.Following up on a call or lead for a sale falls under the same category. You mightthink, "It'd be silly not to follow up with this kind of contact," and you'd be right. Itdoes happen, though. Quite a bit, actually. It's not necessarily because the call orlead is purposely "blown off." More often than not, a lead or call slips between theproverbial cracks and is lost.For networking, sales-related inbound calls and referrals, developing a system forfollowing up with your contacts is key to your ongoing success. Here the system Iuse:1.After I've make a contact, I'll decide if this person is a potential customer, apotential partner, a referral resource or just someone who is a nice person. Ido this immediately after the event is done, so all of the people I've met arefresh in my mind and I can remember them when I look at their cards.2.During my evaluation time, I'll assign these contacts with a letter or number,denoting how important they are to me. I use "A" for most important

(potential customer or hot referral resource), "B" for the next step down(potential partner or warm referral resource), and "C" for least important(seems like a cooler partner or referral/lead resource, but could heat uplater). I do have a "D" category for the people who can't really help you, butare just good people.3.The next day, after I've entered them into my database or address book, I'llwrite my "A's" and "B's" a quick personal note to thank them for their time. Iwon't try to schedule any kind of follow-up meeting or call in this note. I justmake it short and sweet. I give the note a few business days to make it totheir office, depending on location, at which point I'll call to follow up.4.For my "C's" and "D's," I'll e-mail them a quick thank-you the next day. I onlymail notes to "C's" and "D's" if they don't have e-mail addresses. I've alreadyadded the "C's" to my database, but I've discard the "D's."If you're like me, you live and die by your Microsoft Outlook contacts database,which is dutifully copied over to your BlackBerry, Treo or other kind of PDA. To helpeasily enter your stack of business cards, consider purchasing a card-scanningproduct like CardScan. A flatbed scanner with optical-character recognition (OCR)can be a big help, too.All of that is just for immediate follow up. Some people I know have newsletters andcomplete calling programs to continually follow up with people they've met. I have asimilar kind of program, too. Sure, it is a lot of work. But the people I know whomake following up a part of their business plan are the most successful people Iknow. You may be asking yourself why I discard the "D's?" They're people who are niceenough to rate a quick "thank you." But at the particular point when I've decidedthey're a "D," it's only because I've determined they won't be able to give me anykind of follow-up business. In subsequent meetings, they may make it to a "C," "B,"or even "A." Never say never.What if you don't follow up? Simply put, you end up being just "that gal" or "thatguy" to a lot of people you meet. You're not dependable, thoughtful, or mostimportant, the person that pops up in their mind when they think of your profession.Or worse yet, they forget about you entirely, which means all of that time, energyand money you've sunk into networking has a return on investment (ROI) of exactlyzero.In this world of sameness, where chances are a lot of people have your job at othercompanies, you don't want to be just "that gal." And you certainly don't want to bea nobody. If you make following up a part of your daily business life, you'll be well onyour way to success.