Following on from yesterdays blog on the power of "networking", I wanted to share an experience I have had today.Many people go to networking meetings and by handing out lots of business cards, and by talking to lots of people, they go home happy believing themselves to have had a successful meeting.
I want to stress the importance of "the follow up."
It's one thing to have a conversation within the confines of a networking meeting, but it is entirely different when you take the time to follow up on your potential relationship.
I met with a wonderful lady in Northampton today, after spending a few moments with her at a business club last week. We had a drink together, we laughed, we spoke about our mutual interests and passions. We spoke seriously about our respective roles, and we joked about some of the experiences we have had over the years. We bonded.
We finished an hour later promising to keep in touch and putting a date in the diary for our next catch up. We also promised each other that we would look into referring business to one another.
The follow up is vital to your personal referral programme and cannot be missed out. If you don't place importance on this, you are wasting valuable time at the networking events you attend. It is in the follow up meeting that you begin to see your relationships blossom.
Treat these follow up meetings with the importance they deserve.
What a great blog. And your story is a perfect example of that maxim that people do business with people they know, like and trust. So few people take the time to build the relationships that form the foundations of business these days. But when they do magical things happen!
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of us that are 'people people' we get to have a whole load of fun too!
Looking forward to reading more of these Lloyd!