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One of the top questions I get asked about smart networking is about
follow up:
when to do it, how to do it,
what to do if you don't get a response, how not to come across as a stalker.
So the topic of this month's Smart Networking Shift is called,
You've had lunch, now what? Keys to profitable follow up.
Making the initial connection is great but if you don't find a way to continue the
conversation,
then nothing happens. You need to take the lead, and we want to find out the best way
to do that.
Now within the three-step Relationships to Revenues system, this call touches on
the points we cover in Step Two: Prominence. If you take the time to build
relationships you need to stay on
top of things, you need to stay on top of mind to be sure people think of you for
opportunities when they come up, and that only happens through consistent and
deliberate
follow-up.
Our special guest was sales trainer extraordinaire Adrian Miller.
She is author of a book called The Blatant Truth: 50 Ways to Sales
Success;
and she runs a virtual business networking community called Adrian's Network that has
plenty of raving fans from participants in most every industry
and profession.
You can find more info about Adrian and her sales training services on her site,
AdrianMiller.com
and on Twitter she is @AMST, which stands for Adrian Miller Sales Training.
Now I wanted to bring
her in because follow up is an area of networking that so many people struggle
with and Adrian really is a master at this.
I'm going to give a few of the key takeaways here in this video and I'll
also let you know at the end where you can get access to all the tips she shared.
Alright, so let's get started.
Takeaway number one.
Make the commitment.
Follow up is really where things happen and it's rare that you'll sit and
talk to someone for ten minutes and get a client out of the blue from them so if
you don't follow up to you won't get the maximum ROI from all the energy
that you put into networking in the first place.
So Adrian says if you're not going to make a time for follow up then don't waste
your time networking because you won't get anywhere.
Takeaway number two.
High touch, low pressure.
This is the way that Adrian likes to sell and the whole basis of her follow up
process.
It's not about having one meeting, doing the hard sell to get someone to hire
you and then dropping them right away if you don't get an immediate result. That
totally destroys trust and respect. Instead, you want to get in front of them
more often, but in low pressure situations.
You want to nurture the relationship; you want to stay top of mind,
which is important especially if you have a long sales cycle with your clients.
Takeaway number three.
Stay on the grid.
You especially want to stay top of mind - and as Adrian says, on the grid - with any clients
who could be good referral sources for you,
any colleagues,
those kinds of folks who reach your same target market but with a different
product or service so you're not directly competitive.
Because as much as we like to think that people are thinking about us all the
time,
they're not. Out of sight means out of mind and you run the risk of one of your
competitors
getting the referral or the sale because they happen to be there when you weren't.
Takeaway number four.
Add value.
Don't follow up by checking in or
touching base. That's not staying on the grid in a good way because it doesn't
add any value to the other person.
They don't want you to just check in with them like you're checking in to see if
they did their homework.
So Adrian talks about "the three I's,"
which I thought was one of the best parts of the call. It's her framework for
how to decide
how to add
value and follow up in a way
uh... that adds value to the person that you're contacting. You wan to listen to
this part of the call very carefully;
and again, I'm going to tell you where you can get access to this at the end of
this video.
And take away number five.
Opt for variety.
There are different ways you can follow up and keep moving the relationship and
the conversation forward. And it's good to mix them up a bit.
You know, we have the phone and email but we also have
social media,
in-person events, and working through mutual contacts. Adrian gives
lots of creative ways to follow up with your contacts
and also when to think about giving up.
That's another common question I get and I encourage you to listen closely to
what she has to say. So if you'd like access to the full interview, all you
need to do is go to smartnetworking.com
/
Adrian, and put your name and email address and we'll send you a link where you can listen
to the call online absolutely free.
And you'll especially want to hear the story of how Adrian followed up with a prospect
thirty six times, and on the thirty seventh time, he hired her. It's one of my
favorite stories I always ask her to share because you'll see how she really
walks her talk.
So enjoy the interview and be sure to drop by my Facebook page at facebook.
com
/Networkwithliz if you have any questions or want to share
comments, I'd love to hear from you.