Do You Ever Graduate From Networking?

Yesterday I was meeting with a young man who is new to networking.  He is a writer and editor, the Writer Junkie.  He asked, "Do you ever graduate from networking?"  It made me think about what our goals are when we go to networking meetings, like the one we had just attended, Contacts N Coffee.  It is about building relationships that go on, even when you don't attend.  It's about knowing how you can help others as well as acquiring clients and customers.  It is about socializing with people you have met before.  And it is about filling your marketing funnel.

A big challenge when you are  networking is to decide to follow up with some of the people you meet, and that can be more involved than it sounds.  You may collect a bunch of cards at each event, especially if you haven't decided before hand to look for specific types of folks to talk to.  Now what?

Let's say you use your smart phone and immediately send them an email requesting a coffee date.  If you have met and followed up with just five people, and they all respond, you will need to integrate five new follow-up meetings within the next week or so.  And it doesn't stop there.  If you decide that one of them is someone you really want to keep in touch with for the long term, then you will put your plan for follow-up into high gear so you don't allow them to get lost in your busy schedule.  As you can see, if you are attending several networking events each month, you could have overlapping meetings for each new group of people you meet.

Since you are building relationships, not selling products or services, then the follow-up just flows.  It has a natural rhythm all its own.  But if you decide you are overwhelmed, like I was today, just so far behind, I needed to stay in the office and pay bills, or work on projects only I can do, then it is time to pull back.

But the truth of the matter is that as long as you are in business, and you want to stay front of mind in the memories of your contacts, customers, and friends, you will need to continue to network.  I know he was asking about face-to-face networking, because it is so time consuming, and can be expensive.  Thank goodness there are other ways to network that you can do from your home, car, or office.  Thank goodness for social media as another networking tool.

Don't worry about graduating from networking.  You will always need new contacts, and new friends, so keep getting out and sharing yourself in your neighborhood.  Remember those folks you are meeting have many of the same challenges you do, and you may just find some unexpected allies.

For some tips on how to classify your networking contacts, check out my free report.

If you have some awesome networking stories, please share with us.

Dr. Kaaren
The Follow Up Doctor
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