Yesterday, I wrote about selecting your events for the new year. I hope you’ve done so and have a full (or nearly full) calendar for 2010.
But what about follow up? It’s good to go to an event and meet new people, but in my experience people are very bad about post-event follow up.
An example. Last week, I met someone at an event. Someone else vouched for me and said I am “the person to know if you need a good networker.” We spoke for a bit, and I said to her, “You know. I need someone in your business to refer. Would you like to meet and learn about each other?”
That’s my standard approach to setting the commitment for a follow up meeting after an event. What she didn’t know is that I was testing her. I would like someone in her business to refer, but I’ve had a hard time finding someone with good follow up. I don’t want to waste my time with another meeting over coffee if the person is no good at it.
I made my offer as sweet as possible by saying I needed someone like her to refer. I even told her the best way to contact me (via email). What do you think? Would you have emailed me to set up a meeting? I know I would have.
It’s been more than a week, and I still haven’t heard from her. She’s missed an opportunity.
How many opportunities have you missed because you didn’t have an effective follow up plan after an event? The sad part is that you probably don’t know and never will.
Over the next few days, I am going to talk about effective follow up after an event. When should you follow up? How should you follow up? How can you use social media as a good tool?
Anyone have any good follow up horror stories to share in the comments?
Tags: Networking Events