A Word for Meeting With Someone Again

Editor'southward Notation: This a guest postal service by John Corcoran.

Last year, AoM published a thorough guide on How to Network Finer, written by Antonio. Every bit he always does, Antonio crafted the definitive resources for how to prepare for and execute a nighttime of networking and socializing.

But even if you already love networking and have enough personal way, charisma, and wit to put Ryan Gosling to shame, you might struggle with what comes adjacent: the follow-up. What happens after you lot attend a networking or social mixer tin can make the difference between a productive evening and a complete waste material of time.

Many men take trouble following through on and nurturing relationships established at these types of networking events. It'southward not easy to approach people who you might have spoken with for but a few minutes before exchanging business cards and moving on. Even though information technology might be user-friendly to arraign the networker, the trouble is usually not with the person. The trouble is the arrangement, or lack thereof.

The Importance of Having a Follow-Upwards System

Although virtually people sympathise the important part networking and socializing can play in a career or a business, very few people put in identify a methodic system for following up with the people they meet during an evening of networking and socializing. In fact, many merely drop the brawl entirely and never follow upward at all.

Michael Port, a bestselling author and business concern passenger vehicle, says having a strategy for keeping in touch with contacts yous run into "may exist the virtually important marketing strategy you'll ever employ." InVolume Yourself Solid, Port suggests taking the time to create a system for keeping in touch. "If you don't accept a systematized and automated Keep in Bear on Strategy in place, yous may, as the old saying goes, get out a lot of business organisation on the table."

Those who hate networking the most are ordinarily the worst at following up. If you lot get sweaty palms just thinking nearly entering a room full of people y'all don't know, I'll bet yous are the type who neglects the follow through entirely. That'southward actually the worst affair you can do. Not following up only ways you'll accept to haul yourself dorsum out on the cocktail circuit over again and again and over again.

The solution is also not more networking. Spending more time networking without a follow-up system in place is like bailing water from a leaking ship — it will proceed y'all afloat in the short term, merely eventually your ship will sink. A better option is to implement a better system.

Your business or career may even depend on it. Port argues that many businesses have failed just because they didn't accept a strategy for checking in and keeping in touch with contacts and clients.

Approach Follow-Ups with a Philosophy of Service

When Keith Ferrazzi was growing up, he caddied at a local state club in the wealthy boondocks side by side door to his own. During those long outings, he had ample time to observe how successful and wealthy members of the land club treated one another. "They institute 1 another jobs, they invested time and money in one another'southward ideas, and they made certain their kids got assistance getting into the all-time schools, got the right internships and ultimately got the best jobs," says Ferrazzi. In other words, Ferrazzi saw that the very successful were invested in a spirit of service to one another.

In Never Eat Solitary,Ferrazzi writes that the country club provided him "with a unproblematic but profound lesson nearly the ability of generosity. When y'all help others, they often assistance you lot."

If you struggle with following up, the best approach is to remember of your follow-ups with a spirit of generosity. Your goal is non to follow up with people y'all met considering y'all desire to become something from them; you are following up so yous can help them, just similar the successful members of the country club helped one another.

In the rest of this article, I'll lay out a system for post-obit up and maintaining contact with people you see at networking and social events. I take cleaved down the system into three phases:

• Stage i – what steps yous should take immediately following a networking result.
• Phase 2 – how you should go along to maintain contact on a regular interval (i.east. every 30 or 60 days).
• Phase 3 – how y'all should deepen the relationship over the long-term.

Immediate Follow-Up

Permit's assume you lot just attended a social or networking event, and yous met a number of men and women. Y'all can see some potential business or career value to keeping in touch with the people you met. In other words, it wasn't a Burning Man meetup and you didn't just get back from Comic-Con, but you really see business concern value to farther developing these relationships.

Here's what you should do immediately:

1. Take Notes Nearly The People Yous Met

Immediately after an issue, I volition jot down a few quick notes about the people I met. Usually I will write these notes direct on the dorsum of the business concern cards I collected. Information technology's important to exercise this that evening or the next morning while the conversations are still fresh in your mind.

I like writing down any personal details I learned about the person, such equally his spouse's name and his childrens' names and ages if he has any, and whatsoever likes or dislikes or hobbies, such as favorite foods. You never know when this information may come in handy in the future.

2. Transport Memorable First Emails Within 24 Hours

The second step is to send memorable follow-up emails. For this first email, you desire to demonstrate that you lot are thoughtful, reliable, and consequent. Just as you volition have put in effort to make a good impression at the event itself, you should besides make a proficient impression in your first email. That means you should make sure there are no typos or spelling errors, run-on sentences, clumsy hit-ons, or off-color jokes.

Even though email can be a more casual form of communication, that does not mean it is acceptable for your email to audio similar it came from a tween sending texts from the mall food court.

Hither's what your first electronic mail should not look similar:

Hi Mike:

It was swell coming together you, hopefully we'll run into one another again. Keep in touch. I LOL'd all night – your so funny!

–Joe

A better approach is to follow upwards on a topic you discussed when you met. Here is a amend first email:

Hey Mike: It was corking meeting with yous, and talking nearly your burger concern's dilemma with re-branding itself.

I've thought more about information technology, and I think Avalanche Burgers would be a good new proper name. I saw a statistic recently that 50% of consumers prefer to purchase from a concern with a sense of sense of humor, and the fact that your burger articulation is fastened to a ski resort suggests you have a sense of humour about the threat of avalanches. I also asked my married woman what she thought and she says Avalanche Burgers sounds "very cute."

I have a cousin who works for a branding firm in Chicago. I'm happy to ask him for his input besides. Simply let me know.

Proficient luck as you weigh your determination.

— Joe

You can see how much more memorable that e-mail is. Here's why this follow-up works:

• Sharing Useful Data. Joe isn't merely pontificating like a know-information technology-all; he actually shared the useful statistic that fifty% of consumers prefer to purchase from a business organization with a sense of sense of humor, and this piece of data could be very valuable to someone seeking ideas for re-branding their business.
• Surveying Others. Not only did Joe provide Mike with his opinion, but the fact that he asked his wife for her opinion demonstrated he put in extra effort to help Mike out.
• Offering Further Help. By offering to reach out to his cousin, Joe is offering something of even greater potential value to Mike.
• Focusing on the Recipient. Detect Joe did not ask Mike for anything at all.

This 2d email would take just a little more than time than the first, and notwithstanding it demonstrates how useful Joe would be equally a member of Mike's extended network. Joe wants Mike to think, "Northward ow this is the kind of guy I want to get to know better."

3. Send a Handwritten Notation

If you actually want to brand a corking impression, transport a handwritten note on dainty stationery. I received a handwritten note as a give thanks you from someone I had met recently and I can say it made a big impression on me. I would still send an email anyways, however, so that you demonstrate firsthand follow-through, and and then information technology's easy to connect via email again in the future.

4. Connect on Social Media

The side by side step is to connect with the person on LinkedIn. Once I am continued with someone on LinkedIn, I know I am less likely to lose impact with them and they volition be reminded of me every fourth dimension I post something to LinkedIn. Information technology's a great tool for remaining "meridian of mind" with people in your extended network.

I have a simple, gratuitous browser extension called Rapportive installed in my browser and then when I start to compose an email in my Gmail business relationship to a person, I see a snapshot of that person's social media profiles on the correct side of my "compose" window.

This groovy tool allows me to learn a picayune more than near the person, and I tin speedily connect on LinkedIn or other social media services in one click.

Monthly Follow-Ups

After the initial follow-upwards, it'southward very easy to lose contact. So the next stride is to create a do of following up on a regular interval, i.e. every 30 days or every 90 days, or even every 6 months. You can determine whatever interval is comfortable, but exist sure to stick to it. The bespeak is to make sure y'all don't let so much time go by that the human relationship goes cold.

Add Follow-Up Reminders

The adjacent step is to make sure you follow up with that person. This is ane of the hardest parts of the follow-upwardly process to manage.

Yous tin can become cheap on this strategy past trying to remember to follow upwardly, although chances are contacts will fall through the cracks. Another option is to add reminders in your calendar, but that can exist very labor intensive.

I recently started experimenting with an online service that allows me to categorize people based on how frequently I want to follow up with them, i.e. every 30 days, every sixty days, every 6 months, etc. While it isn't totally necessary to use such a service, you may find every bit I have that the benefit outweighs the cost. There are plenty of other customer relationship management (CRM) services that you tin use.

The most important matter, whether you employ a paid service or not, is to make sure relationships don't become dried. Make sure 6 or 12 months don't become by without you checking in with people who are of import to your business concern or career. They will forget about you.

How to Follow Up & Add Value

One of the hardest parts well-nigh following up with people who you withal don't know all that well is finding excuses for contacting that person without sounding like you are a used automobile salesman.

A few weeks ago, I got a voicemail completely out of the blueish from a concern broker I had met a year earlier. In his voicemail, he actually said he was calling to see if I had "whatsoever business organization for him" in the form of clients of mine who might want to sell their business organisation. I felt used, similar he had no interest in me at all, only in what I could provide for him. In that location are a number of excuses he could have used for calling out of the bluish, but calling to ask if I had whatever business for him was not a adept approach. Needless to say, I didn't return the telephone call.

Here are a few means you can follow up without sounding similar you're merely in it for you:

i. Ship An Informative Article, a Blog Post, or a Volume

One of the easiest and well-nigh effective excuses for contacting a person is because yous desire to share an article, weblog post, or volume that you think might exist valuable to that person. This piece of content could relate to their business or profession, or it could hands relate to a passion, hobby, or family member.

For case, if I know a person's daughter is well-nigh to start a new task later on graduating from college, I might send that person an article I read on how to ace your first twenty-four hours and week at a new job. Ofttimes, demonstrating your thoughtfulness as to that person's beloved family unit members is a way of forming a stronger personal bond with them.

2. Make an Introduction

Another strategy I love to employ, specially with people I just met, is to introduce the new person to someone else I know. People love relevant introductions, especially when the introduction tin help them in their business or career. What's more, if the two people really striking it off, they will always remember yous were the person who introduced them.

Here's an example:

Hey Jim:

I'm cc'ing by manner of introduction Phil Mitchell, who I met last dark at a Chamber of Commerce mixer. Phil is a business coach in San Francisco focusing on software startups. It turns out Phil is also a huge Cubs fan and so you two accept something in common.

Phil: Jim lives down the street from me, and our sons are in preschool together. Jim is the founder of a startup called Pets.com that I think is going to be the biggest matter since sliced breadstuff. I thought y'all two would get along so that'due south why I'm making the introduction.

Best,

John

Note to self: I should definitely never be a venture capitalist.

iii. Invite the Person to a Complimentary or Comped Event

Complimentary or comped events are a great excuse for getting back in affect later. For example, I got an electronic mail recently from a woman I know, inviting me to a small panel discussion she thought would be of interest. She was a board member for the sponsoring organisation, so she offered me a complimentary ticket.

The cardinal here is the event has to be (A) free or paid for, and (B) relevant or useful to the person you just met. If you endeavor to get the person yous just met to buy a ticket to some event you are promoting, y'all will probably only annoy that person.

4. Mention the Person in your Writing

Some other great fashion to brand an impression is by mentioning the person you met, or their company, in a weblog mail service or a YouTube video. For example, Antonio included a photograph of him and Tom Julian, ane of his favorite men'southward style authors, in his How to Network Effectively post. This is a perfect example of how to create an excuse for further contact. Equally an author, I'chiliad sure Mr. Julian was grateful to Antonio for mentioning him on such a wildly popular and high-traffic blog.

How to Deepen your Relationships Over the Long-Term

The concluding footstep is to deepen your relationships over the long-term. Your goal should exist to motility the people you lot encounter upwards the ladder to deeper and more meaningful relationships.

Before you outset deepening relationships, you lot should commencement ask yourself some tough questions nigh with whom you want to further relationships.

Determine Which People for Deeper Relationships

Fifty-fifty though you should approach networking with a philosophy of helping others first, you even so want those who you help to exist in a position to one twenty-four hour period repay the favor.

I recommend writing out an actual list of fifty+ people who you almost want to become to know better over the next 12 months. Having to sit down down and create this listing may even aid create greater clarity as to your business and career goals. The list may include everyone from celebrities to CEOs to colleagues and current or past clients or customers. Every in one case in a while, you should revisit this listing and decide if there are any people who should be added or removed.

Cull What In-Person Events to Use

Once you've adamant who you desire to deepen relationships with, y'all should showtime reaching out to run into for tiffin, java, or a drinkable. This is a corking mode to get to know the person better than you probably did in your initial coming together.

There are an infinite number of different types of in-person events you could appoint in — lunches, coffees, drinks, dinners, sporting events — simply you should choose carefully. If you don't naturally like networking, so be sure you don't put yourself in a situation that volition make information technology more uncomfortable. If you lot're non athletic, don't get roped into a golf game. If you hate drinking, don't come across someone for a happy hr at a bar. If you are slap-up at ane-on-one meetings, so perchance a quiet luncheon at an out-of-the-way cafe would exist all-time. Play to your strengths.

Which industry yous are in is also going to make a difference as to what events are appropriate. Here are a few ideas:

• Athletic Outings – in some industries, it may be pop to network over a round of golf. In others, it may be pop to play pickup basketball.
• Entertainment Outings – professional ballgames, musical performances, and plays tin be a nice way to go to know someone in a relaxed atmosphere.
• Meals, Drinks, or Coffee – if you don't have a lot of money, this can exist a slap-up style to network. Most people take to get dejeuner or java each day anyways, then y'all might as well turn these activities into networking opportunities by inviting someone to join you.
• Shared Involvement Events – from attending religious services to a articulation outing at the shooting range, if y'all have a shared interest, that's a smashing opportunity to bond.
• Skype or Phone Calls – if the person lives far from yous, and so you can always connect via Skype or over a telephone call to go to know each other better.

Bring a Small Souvenir

For bonus points, bring a small gift to give to your recipient when yous run into. A gift, yet pocket-size, can make a huge impression. When Michael Fishman, a marketing advisor and consultant, set upwardly an initial dejeuner coming together with Ramit Sethi, the popular blogger and bestselling author of I Volition Teach You To Be Rich, he brought along an obscure, out-of-print book as a gift. Breakthrough Ad by Eugene Schwartz sells for around $100 on eBay – a fact which Sethi didn't know at the time.

Sethi was then impressed past the gesture that when Fishman later asked Sethi to speak at a conference Fishman was organizing, Sethi agreed to waive his standard $20,000 fee.

When y'all get-go the price of the book, that ane small gift saved Fishman $19,900. Non too bad for a used book.

Send Thanks Emails Afterwards Your Meeting

Afterwards y'all've met, ship a follow-upwards email or annotation thanking the person for meeting with you, no matter who you met. Whether the person is CEO of a Fortune 500 company or unemployed, they gave upward their time to come across with you, and thanking them aligns with the spirit of service we are seeking to attain.

Constantly Re-evaluate Your Approach

The final thought I want to leave you with is to constantly think near how you tin better your follow-upwards system. Your organisation should be fluid, but like relationships are fluid. About of all, keep with a positive attitude and spirit of helping others, and you should take no trouble developing deeper and more meaningful relationships.

What are your tips for post-obit upward after you meet someone new at a networking event? Share them with us in the comments!

_________________________________________

John Corcoran is an attorney, former Clinton White Business firm Writer, and blogger at SmartBusinessRevolution.com , where he writes about how to employ political strategies and tactics in business. Yous tin can download his free ebook, " 10 Ways to Utilize Surreptitious Political Strategies and Tactics to Grow Your Business ."

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