Is it stalking or following up?

My friend, Mary Swarts, put on an excellent event with uber realtor, Jay McHugh, and SendOutCards' President of Field Operations, Steve Schulz, on May 5th in Fresno. If you weren't there, you really missed out! But we are trying to put on a similar event in the SF Bay Area.

One of the things that Mary did was to put a new tip on the Facebook event page every few days leading up to the event to give people a glimpse into what they'd be learning about how to use the premier follow up tool on the market. Here's an example of one of her tips:

Secret #3

"How often should I follow up?" "I don't want to be pushy" "I'm afraid of what people will say about me" Gasp! "I don't want to be called a STALKER!" If we're not careful in guarding our thoughts, we let our fear take over the wheel and then, we choose not to make any calls... We talk ourselves into stopping our business before we really get it into first gear. 

We have decades of conditioning handed down without question. We back off to err on the side of being viewed "nice" so we don't make calls and follow up. Our prospect list goes cold and it takes more effort to restart the sales process. 

Real world - here's how I follow up - after a networking event: 1. Same day: Email saying it was nice to meet them at _____event 2. Connect on FB & LinkedIn 3. Send a Nice to Meet You card 4. Call in 5 days (SendOutCards will take 3-5 business days to arrive) 5. Coffee Meeting / Take a picture with prospect 6. Send Card #2 highlighting their business with their picture on it 7. Follow Up Call, or Text, or FB, Card - once a week

The guideline above will help you get into the magic number range of 5-12 touches to move your prospect into action. As you start to get into the rhythm of doing this method, you can adjust it to your style/preference.

Following up once a week is acceptable, professional, and totally okay. You can let your prospect know that you'll be following up in 1 week, ask him/her what day(s) & time(s) they have open on their calendar. Then be a person of your word and follow up when you say you will. Cultivate the reputation you do what you say you're going to do, and people will willingly share referrals.

As I'm writing this on Wednesday afternoon, I'm getting ready to go to a networking event. And as Casey Eberhart recommends, I'm not carrying any business cards. GASP! What will I do when somebody asks for my business card? I'll do step #3 above...I'll send a greeting card with my contact info in it. I have an app on my phone that lets me scan a business card and save the info in my contacts. Then I open the SendOutCards app and send them a card that's been pre-designed with my contact info in a QR code.

I'll also do steps 1 and 2 after the event. And then follow up per Mary's advice above.

Interesting days

Today - Notebook Day and May Ray Day 

Tomorrow - Weights & Measures Day, Be a Millionaire Day, Endangered Species Day, Bike To Work Day, Pick Strawberries Day and Pizza Party Day What are you doing to celebrate?

Next Thursday - Blueberry Cheesecake Day and World Lindy Hop Day

June 19 - Martini Day, Sauntering Day, Juneteenth, Turkey Lovers' Day, World Sickle Cell Awareness Day and Garfield The Cat Day. But let's not forget that it's also Father's Day!