Networking 102

An important part of networking is keeping in touch.  While I am a big proponent of keeping in touch with those you are connected to, it is an aspect I often forget to practice.

So last week I went through my list of contacts on Linked In, (a business/professional networking site I have joined), and sent a brief note to just about everyone.  Skipping those I had recently connected to or those who I had already had fairly recent contact with. (With only 100 contacts on Linked In it was not a big effort at all, I pity those who have thousands of contacts and try to do this in one shot. 

To be honest, I did this only with Linked In connections, not all of my professional connections.)The note was simple, just saying it had been a while since we had connected on Linked In and I just wanted to keep in touch.  I wished them well and that was about it.  My message specifically avoided any comment about doing work for them; it was clearly not an attempt to seek business but just one human
asking another how they were.

My e-mail was short and sweet:

It’s been a while since we connected on Linked In and I just wanted to drop a note and see how things were going with you. Hope you have a wonderful week. 

Brock

The results surprised me.

Only a dozen or so responded, with most saying they were doing well.  A few were in the midst of personal and/or professional conflict; one called me immediately after receiving the e-mail, (we talked for a good thirty minutes); while a second individual scheduled a call, (we ended up talking for an hour); and one person said “What a nice (and unusual) thing to do!” 

The word “unusual” caught my attention; don’t people normally keep in touch with contacts?

A short e-mail note to your professional (and personal for that matter) contacts doesn’t take long and reminds potential business that you still exist.  Why would someone not try and do this simple piece of marketing?

There is ACT, Gold Mine, and other contact management software programs out there to help you do this very thing.  Yet apparently, (based on my small sample), many people are not utilizing the basic feature of those programs to stay connected. What are the good of Linked In, FaceBook, MySpace, and all the other “networking” sites if the people just make the basic connection and stop there?Networking isn’t a single event of making a contact.  It goes beyond that. Once the contact is made you need to develop a bit of a relationship over time; keep each other posted on what is happening in your world and finding out what is happening in theirs; it is an on-going process.  It takes time and effort.Would you run one ad and expect people to remember you forever?  No.  So why do people make a networking contact and then seemingly ignore/forget them?   That’s terrible marketing.  (If you can even really call it marketing at all.)

I presented the above comments to a discussion forum I’m part of, and one of my connections, (Jason Alba, creator of www.jibberjobber.com), made the following comment:

<cheering loudly>

Brock … I’m one of those “other contact management software” companies… so perhaps I’m too close to this issue.But I’ll add one thing, and complement your message.  You know my biggest problem with LinkedIn?  It’s the perception that people get (so nothing against LI really) that it is their networking silver bullet!That’s it.Connect with me and “we’re networking!”But you sure as hell better not put me on your newsletter (reference previous thread in this or the other forum).

… and then lets sit around and wait until we can add value to one another.  We won’t do anything, but we’ll just wait. 

That isn’t networking.

Some of the CRM things that we should be doing is ranking our relationships (a la Keith Ferrazzi – ABC, or in my site, zero through five stars), logging important interactions and happenings, creating action items (follow up with Brock next month), and even having a proactive system to improve the relationships (there is a cool little feature in JibberJobber that helps with this).

Anyway, this is long enough… I just wanted to chime in!

When it comes to marketing I am often asked what is the “best” advertising method; and like Jason said in his comment, there is no silver bullet in networking, or in any form of marketing.

What people don’t seem to realize is that networking is marketing.  Face-to-face, in the trenches, personal marketing; be it for trying to gain new business, looking for employment, or whatever.  Networking = Marketing.  And it is not a one-shot endeavor.

As Jason said later in an e-mail to me:  “And networking = building relationships . . . so developing a relationship is marketing . . . right?”

Right.

Developing a relationship, like any marketing effort, requires time and repeated contact.  When you make a contact in sales or on a networking site such as www.linkedin.com, www.jibberjobber.com, www.biztoo.com, or any other networking site you must keep in touch on a regular basis.   It would be like asking someone if they woul like to go on a date with you, but never actually asking them out.  Or having a blog with only one post.   Why even bother to make the initial contact if you aren’t going to take the time and effort to develop a relationship. 

Stop by their place of business, make a phone call, send an e-mail, or drop them a note; but do something to keep in touch. 

One of the things I utilize to stay in touch with business contacts is a monthly newsletter.  Not only does it provide marketing insight and tips to the recepient, but it reminds them I exist and by extension what I do.  Hopefully, when they need marketing assistance or advice they will call me.  If they don’t then I haven’t done my job of marketing myself very well have I? 

That’s my 2 cents.       

(NOTE:  This Blog entry was judged to be one of this weeks best blogs on business by www.ceoconsultant.com; and I sincerely appreciate this recognitin.)