The Art of Schmoozing by Guy Kawasaki

Somewhere halfway down the page is #6 on his list: Follow up. And he is right, hardly anyone ever follows up. I have been to a few of these types of events now, and even though I hand out many business cards, I rarely get a call from someone to talk further. But what does happen is that I follow up with them, and in return I get a warm response thanking me for my note and asking me for coffee. I may not get the sale every time, but what I do get is contact: leads, energy, referrals, ideas, avenues, whatever the case may be. I take the relationship further than just a one-time shot.

So how do I follow up? I send a personal, hand-written note. I have experimented with all sorts of notes – nice blank cards from a stationary store, a piece of paper with my letterhead, something funny if I made a real connection with the person. Right now I’m sending out handwritten notes on these cards, which we made in-house:

Now you don’t need something fancy, but if you have it, it’s a nice branding tool. What you need is something personal. Like Guy Kawasaki, you don’t want the recipient to think you are sending them some kind of canned mass-mailing message. When you meet the person, jot down a note about them on the back of their card so that when you follow up, you can mention something personal about them. It makes the recipient feel special and remembered. I am pretty good with names and faces, so this comes easy to me – if you are not, perhaps you should have a small notepad with you to take notes while you are at an event.

The follow-up is also not the time to sell your services, unless the person you talked with asked you to send them more information. It is the time to say how great it was to meet them, what interests you about their business, how you might help them, perhaps an action item like "Let’s meet for coffee!", and whether or not you will be at the next meeting.

Every time I go to an event or meet with someone, I set aside time in my calendar to follow-up with the people I meet. I have gone in many great directions thanks to follow-ups. If you are spending your time and money to meet new people, you must also spend the time to follow up. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time and money in the first place. As the saying goes, "Your Fortune is in the Follow Up!"