I had an aha! moment when I was going through my Christmas card list. What about the L’s? Larry, Leah, Lisa. You see, I sit down and go through my Christmas card list every year with the best of intentions. I start with a whole bunch of enthusiasm and gusto, but I never get past the letter K in my activities for lead generation and for keeping in touch with clients and potential clients.
I started thinking about the L’s and realizing how much untapped potential there is after L. I thought about W and wondered how I could even measure the lost revenue of W (there’s my financial background jumping into my psyche). And since in the last couple years one could say that I have been a particular slacker in this arena, I feel a bit guilty – sorry Uncle Frank.
My moment of realization came to me via my newest client by the name of “Albert” (in predictable fashion, I always get to the A’s). Guess how many times I have dropped him in a line in the past 5 years? At least 10 times, once at Christmas and once or twice some other time during the year. And guess who he thought of when he needed help with a business plan for a restaurant? You guessed it – ME!
So, keeping in touch actually helps you in your business. There are 3 reasons that keeping in touch with people in your network makes good business sense:
1) It is a great lead generation method because it keeps you top of mind when they or someone they know are looking for the product or service that you offer.
2) It helps you feel more comfortable about asking someone in your network for help.
3) The people in your network may be more open to giving you the help that you need than they would if they haven’t heard from you in a long time.
So how can you keep in touch with Larry, Leah, Lisa, and Walter? Instead of sitting down once a year and trying to keep in touch with your whole list, break it down into a manageable daily activity.
And for a template to manage this click here http://goo.gl/7pkj8 . This FREE template allows you to enter your list of contacts and keep track of when you need to contact them next – so if your goal is to contact everyone on your list four times a year you can use this template to do it.
When thinking about lead generation and sales, we often forget the most valuable asset we have, the people we already know. If you sit down and write a list of everyone you know who might be able to help you in your business, I would bet you can come up with quite a few people. Michael Port recommends going for a list of 90. A list of more than 90 is nearly impossible to manage. If you can’t think of 90 people, start with your best friend and your mom and put them on your list. Now add every boss that you had that didn’t fire you, every former co-worker (except the ones that got you fired), and every client you’ve had that thought you did great work.
To find out more, go to Michael Port’s (goo.gl/sy2j8) blog post where he lays out an easy way to reach out to people that you don’t yet know, but would like to know, and developing deeper relationships with people that you already know. Because, after all, keeping in touch makes good business sense in generating the leads you need to build your network of referral partners, faithful clients and new clients.
This article was inspired by insights derived from the Book Yourself Solid system. More tools can be found at Book Yourself Solid or here (www.bookyourselfsolid.com).
- The Easiest Way to Build Brand Equity - May 7, 2012
- Generate More Leads With This Template - May 2, 2012
- 3 Reasons To Choose A Target Market First - April 25, 2012
