I had an interesting experience this week that illustrated the point of being first in your network’s mind. I was meeting with a mortgage loan officer who has an interesting way of helping realtors fill their pipeline. Obviously, he wants to meet realtors.
So I started thinking. Who do I know who is a realtor? I have a client who is. Obviously he was the first one to come to mind. There was one who almost became a client last month. That contact was still pretty fresh, so I thought of her. Next I thought of the realtor who used to be in BNI with me. We haven’t spoken in a while, but seeing someone every week for more than a year does make an impression. Then later in the day I remembered someone who was briefly a client early this year. We haven’t spoken since, but I thought of her because she recently friended me on Facebook.
See how it works? The person I see weekly was obviously first in mind. Someone I saw about a month and a half ago was next. Someone I saw weekly two years ago was next. And the person I only met with a few times might have been forgotten except that we recently had contact through social media.
This was a pretty good example of how you really do need multiple touches to build enough of a relationship that your name is triggered. And a mix of in-person and on-line can be effective to keep and build that relationship.
Does anyone else have a story of ways you stayed “top of the mind” with your network?
Tags: Networking, Referrals, Triggers