Over the last 14 years I’ve met lots of people, exchanged hundreds (if not thousands) of cards. I’ve told people I was interested in their services or knew someone who could be, and asked them to call me.
And then I wait. And wait. Sadly, most never call.
Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself?
How hard is it to call someone and say, “”Hi, it was great meeting you at the networking event last night. I was very interested in your business. I’d like to talk to you some more and see if there might be some ways we could work together. Is this a good time to talk?”
Or for that matter send them a follow up note?
Apparently very. Almost no one does this.
So why don’t they?
There are a number of reasons.
- They don’t have a plan.
Why are you going to the networking function? What’s your intention? What outcome do you want? If you haven’t thought about this and written it down, you’ll go to events, talk, exchange cards and hope something happens.
Well it won’t.
- People are disorganised and unfocused.
Even with the best intentions, without a follow up plan you’ll be scattered. You get home, put the cards on your desk, get busy and forget about them so they gather dust.
A couple of weeks later you think it’s now too late – they won’t remember you, so you file the cards and go onto the next function where you repeat the whole process.
The solution is to leave time in your diary the next day to follow up, put the people into your CRM, send them a follow up note with articles you’ve written and make time to call.
- You’re afraid of rejection
You think, “I don’t want to be pushy. If they’re interested they’ll call me. I don’t like selling” etc.
These thoughts mask deeper fears like “I’ll be rejected, ostracised or laughed at”. Or you think you have nothing of value to offer, so why bother.
The bottom line is you need to get over it.
If you want your business to succeed you need to have a networking plan, become organised and be confident that you provide value and people want to hear from you.
In the next few weeks we’ll be releasing a new product which will help you network effectively. Over the course of a few weeks you’ll create a plan, work on your audio logo or elevator pitch, create follow up material and learn how to follow up correctly. Look out for it.
In the meantime if you’d like to accelerate your growth via more effective networking call us on (02) 9499-7958.