I met a nice young fellow the other day at a networking event. He had all the right qualities... friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable in his field (web design). I gave him my card and asked him to e-mail me the next day. We had talked and I told him I was interested in looking at some of this work and hinted at maybe even hiring him to tutor me in writing some code I've been struggling with. He took my card and said he'd drop me an e-mail, guess what; haven't heard from him. I met him three days ago.
Now before you say, "Give him a little more time!" Understand, I e-mailed him Wednesday morning to remind him to e-mail me, and again Thursday morning with a link I told him I'd send him. The sad part is I had already started networking for him on Wednesday. I told one of my IT guys about him and a good friend that services copy machines. I told them that if I liked his work, I'd introduce him to them. This fellow was trying to find design work and these two would have been great contacts. Both of them contacted me today for other things and asked in passing, "Has he had e-mailed you yet?" I had to say no. I could almost hear their heads shaking over the phone. BANG! Loss of credibility! Just like that!
If you want to be a good networker, you have to dedicate yourself to a good follow up program. Set aside time every morning or evening, pull out your notes and do what you say you will do. Do I do this perfectly? Come on! Not even close! But I'm constantly working to improve! Are you?
Cartoon from: Success from the Nest
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