Business Networking and Sex - Ivan Misner [87]
This respondent also recognizes the importance of having a systematic approach:
I have a very extensive (yet monitored) “drip system” that has paid back its cost many times over. This “drip system” includes recipe cards, a birthday club letter (prearranged for clients to pick up a cake at their local bakery), monthly newsletters, anniversary cards for the settlement of their homes, and invitations to an annual night at their local ball game. Whether or not the client chooses to participate isn’t important. Keeping my name in the forefront of their minds after the first contact is established is what’s important. Later they’ll know where to turn when my services are needed.
As this respondent observes, keeping one’s eye on the purpose of business networking is a vital aspect of following up, too:
I’ve made several strong personal friendships with both men and women as a result of business networking. Like any relationship, they require work. It’s been my experience, regardless of gender, that you need to be mindful of that when you reach that level of trust where it turns into a friendship, because then you can forget all about the business aspect of the relationship. This is why I feel it is key to have a structure in place that continually brings you back to generating business and making money. Losing sight of that changes the nature of the relationship.
He Says . . .
Systems? We have systems for everything! Have you ever watched a man build a fire on the grill? It is a system of beauty. First you clean the grill, then you neatly stack the charcoals into a pyramid, and with great care then douse the charcoal with a precise amount of lighter fluid. Light that charcoal, and, ahhhh, fire. There’s just something about fire! Once the fire is just right, as only a man can tell, it’s time to throw your dinosaur steaks on the coals and let them sizzle! You see? We know systems, and the fire-making one is an example of one we perfected thousands of years ago.
There are many systems in business and it is important that we use them to our advantage, much like the fire. Putting systems in place that allow us to follow up consistently and stay in touch sounds like it should be pretty easy; after all, we dominated fire. So why do more men not use systems to complement their business activities? I would venture to say that staying in touch feels just a little too relational. After all, those business contacts already know us and we’ve already sold them something, so why do we need to stay in touch?
If I told you having a system would allow you to make more money, would you be willing to use one? Of course you would. More money equals more free time, and if systems are in place to help, then we save both time and effort.
How many times have you forgotten to follow up on a referral or a call in a timely manner? It probably wasn’t because you didn’t have every good intention of doing so, but sometimes we become so busy that we forget the little things. Yes, women are better natural multitaskers. We men have to put more systems into place to make sure that we don’t drop that very detailed ball. Every time we do, it costs money! By and large, implementing more systems around our work allows us to make more money so that we have the time to do the things we love, like building fires!
She Says . . .
The fortune is in the follow-up. Recently I passed a referral to a gentleman. I told him it was a done deal. I never heard from him, so I passed it to a second man and told him the same thing. He also never called me. The follow-up was completely dropped, simply because neither of these gentlemen had a system for following up, or there was an issue with me being a woman. Either way there was opportunity