Make Follow Up an Everyday Habit

Posted • February 26, 2010 • Comments Off

How to Make Following Up an Everyday Habit

Guest post by Social Media Strategist and Avid Networker Taylor Ellwood

The other night I was talking with a friend and she told me that she really admired my ability to follow up with people and asked me if it was discipline or if I had developed a process for doing it. For me, following up is a result of several different factors, all of which anyone can do, provided they make enough effort to do so:

1. Develop a genuine interest in each person you meet. This means that just meeting a person won’t be enough for you. You will want to know more about that person. You will want to know what that person does, but also what that person needs or what current problem s/he is dealing with (everyone has a problem). Most importantly, you need to listen to the person, without trying to talk over the person or be thinking about that next football game.
2. When you get back from meeting someone, think about what that person told you. Who do you know that can help that person? Look through your business cards, and make a couple calls or send some emails to people you know who might be interested in the person you met. By thinking of who you can connect this person to, you start a process that will make you want to follow -up with the person.
3. Either email or phone the person with contact information to the people you know. By making this extra effort, not only will you follow up with the person, but you’ll show that you followed through with the person. In other words you will show that person you cared enough to help him/her make a connection to people who could help him/her.
4. Do it every day. That’s right follow-up every day. When you meet someone, follow-up via email or phone, and connect with him/her on your social networks. Put aside time, in your evening, or at the latest, the next morning and follow-up with each person you met.

Success with following up does come down to discipline, but more importantly it comes down to thinking about other people and how you can help them. My choice to follow up with a person I meet is made out of the desire to help that person. I realize that many times the help I provide will only be helping someone make a connection with someone else, but knowing I can do that and that it will help that person makes me feel good. My biggest payoff for following up isn’t how many new clients I could get, or how much income I might derive from that process, but rather the state of emotional well-being that I feel, knowing that I could make someone’s life a bit easier if I could provide that person an answer or help him/her make a connection. Know your motivation for following up and then you will follow-up on a regular basis.

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