Networking is Useless Without the Follow-Up

Michelle Gamble-Risley, CEO
at 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com).

As business owners, we spend a lot of time out networking and meeting people. What I see as a colossal waste of time is when you network and fail to follow-up on leads. You get back to the office and the non-stop phone or email or texts distract you -- and pretty soon you haven't had two seconds to make sure all those hot prospects turn into actual business. I ask you, what is the point if you don't follow-up? You ate rubber chicken, drank sour coffee, and maybe consumed a semi-tasty cookie (what is it with cookies for dessert these days anyway?). Your waistline expanded maybe, but your bank account didn't increase. You spent the money, ate the bad food, and you didn't follow-up. I say why don't you just take that cash, add it up, flush it down the toilet, and add some Drano just to ensure it goes down smoothly. The whole point of networking is to build relationships to grow your business. So when you take those business cards, don't just shove them in a pocket or purse. Make sure you give it a few days and then follow up on the lead. Just ask the person out for a cup of coffee. What's the worst that will happen? You'll make a new friend. Or just ask the person is there anything you can do to help them in general. In Heidi BK Sloss' fabulous Amazon best-seller Fortune is in the Follow-Up, she teaches business owners the value, benefit and need to follow-up and how to do it. 3L Publishing is publishing the second edition.