Business Networking and Sex - Ivan Misner [95]
• Track your results. Where is your business coming from? Who is passing you referrals? What organizations are the most productive for you to put your time into? If you are not tracking your results, then you don’t have any idea where your time is best spent to make money. If you have one or two people who are consistently sending you business, it would be wise for you to invest more time in those people rather than using your time to meet new people. Without tracking, there is no way to know where your results are coming from. One company started tracking all their business and found that it was not the salespeople who were bringing in the most business. It was the receptionist! Don’t you think it might be important that this person be recognized for her efforts?
• Practice a thank-you courtesy. Please. Thank you. Excuse me. Didn’t we learn this in kindergarten? These three phrases make the difference between the civilized world and the noncivilized world ... at least in my opinion. I want you to think of the people who are your networking associates not as friends or family, but as your most valued client. If your most valued client gave you a referral, what would you do? 1) Thank them at the moment they gave it to you. 2) Contact that person right away to show you truly appreciated the referral. 3) Communicate back with your top client to let them know that you had spoken to Mrs. Referral and what the current status is. 4) Treat Mrs. Referral like gold, because it came from your best client. 5) Inform Mr. Best Client of the final result. 6) Send Mr. Best Client a thank-you card or gift to show your appreciation for the referral. Yes? Is this a rough draft of the follow-up plan you would put in place? Of course! Why? Because they are your best client. You don’t want them mad at you. You want them to see how serious you take the referral and how much you truly appreciate their trust, confidence, and energy. And, the selfish reason—you would like more referrals from them.
If you have committed networking associates, THEY ARE YOUR MR. & MRS. BEST CLIENTS. They are willing to refer your business over and over, if you do the right thing. So, do the right thing. Say thank you every time you get a referral and follow the process above. The thank you is important, but keeping them informed is even more important.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve given referrals to people and then never heard from them again. I love when people get back to me and tell me how great the referral worked out. It makes me feel good knowing that I was able to help a friend. It also makes me feel great to be appreciated. People love to be recognized for the things they do.
• Track your time. Time is money. How much time are you putting into your efforts? Are you making the appropriate amount of return on the time invested? How will you know the answer to that if you aren’t tracking your time?
If you take the time to implement systems around your networking activities, you will find that you get better results but, it will also allow you more time to do the other things that your personal three-ring circus requires of you. During the year you may have more time to attend events than other times. Even though you may not be able to network as much as you would like or feel you need to, you can keep in touch with your associates by putting touch point systems in place. These are time-savers. Sending cards out on a regular basis: Schedule it on your calendar. I have the birthdays of all my family members on my calendar. Not very impressive ... but wait, there is more. I also have scheduled to send a card in the mail to them seven days ahead of time. Are you impressed yet? There’s more. I also have scheduled a shopping day to get the card one week before the day I need to send the card out. (No, not a whole day... but you know what I mean.) C’mon ... you ladies are definitely impressed now. Just admit it. Men are actually