Let’s Stay In Touch

The 2018 Fall Conference season is long over, and you probably met dozens of new contacts who said, “Let’s stay in touch.”

Pretty soon the spring conference season will begin and there will be dozens more invitations. But the big question is, do you tend to follow up with all the people who extend that invitation to stay in touch? Or do you let the day-to-day necessities get in the way? It’s a brand-new year and a good time to establish a more successful method for nurturing new business relationships.

I discovered a workable, well thought out plan published by Huffington Post and am sharing excerpts with you that I find most compelling.

Get organized: Unpacking the suitcase is generally the #1 chore after arriving home. All the expo swag, business cards, and other “stuff” accumulated during the event gets set aside with the best of intentions to go through it in the next day or two. It’s safe to say that a “day or two” will turn into a week or two or even a month or two as life reverts back to normal. The more time that passes the more those great opportunities tend to get lost. Get the post conference collection organized as soon as possible.

Reflect: Spend some time in reflection. Very rarely do conference plans go exactly as expected. Some things may have gone way better than imagined, other things may have fallen extremely short of the expectations, and some things may have come as a complete surprise. The first 72 hours is the best time to look back on the event with an objective magnifying glass. Spending this time in reflection will help determine an appropriate post conference plan as well as noting things that can be executed differently at the next event.

Make a plan: Once organized, make a plan. Conference attendees usually set out with goals in mind; people they want to meet and things they want to accomplish. As soon as the conference ends is the best time to take all the information that was gathered at the event (including new connections) and see how they align with personal and professional needs. The first 3 weeks post conference are critical for reaching out and beginning to develop and nurture new relationships with other attendees and vendors. Acting early assures that details of conversations will be fresh on your mind and theirs. Email or social media connections are the best way to make the first initial contact unless there was indication of a better method in which to reconnect.

Deliver: There is a very good chance promises were made while networking; the name of a book, a virtual introduction, or a sample, quote, or product. It is imperative that this ball does not get dropped. When trying to nurture a connection for the purpose of business or collaboration, following through goes a long way in showing dependability and strengthening the know, like, and trust factor that began to build during the face to face encounter.

If you missed my latest blog, Out Of Sight And Out Of Mind Doesn’t Cut It In The Business World, you might want to read it as well. I give other methods of staying in touch, many of which my agency can help you with.