Micro-Connections in Business Development
In my business development coaching there are a couple of themes I go back to repeatedly. The three most important are related to ‘effort’ management. They are a] persistence, b] continually start and cultivate relationships and c] you’re actually a marketer of whatever service you offer [e.g. lawyers are marketers of legal services]. All this is against a background where you’re time poor. So how do you spend enough time persistently starting and cultivating relationships and still get all your work done.
You need to have a variety of techniques you can use to connect with people in very short bursts. That is, to be able to connect without any lingering. [Lingering is good but should be limited to connections, like prospects and clients, where a lot of money or professional satisfaction is available to be harvested.] Here are a few micro-connection techniques I like.
* The stay in touch phone call. Get in the habit of calling people to see how they are. The script is “I just wanted to make a quick call to see how you are doing.” If you’re talking to your contact live, pause at the end of this sentence. If you’re leaving a voice mail follow with “Give me a call at xxxx if you have a chance.” Not much more is needed. You’ve shown that you care and are available to them if they need you. You can also do this by email.
* If your clients or sources are people in your workplace drop by their work area from time to time. This might be termed ‘marketing by walking around’. The more complicated version of this is to call clients or prospects who may be near a location you are visiting at some future time. The script is “Hi [client or prospect or source] I’m going to be in a meeting near your offices on Tuesday. Do you have time for a coffee?” Then leave an opening for an answer.
* You may manage people in your business development chain or otherwise. These are people who also fall into the ‘. . . by walking around’ paradigm whether for marketing or management purposes.
* A regular connection via something like a newsletter, on paper or electronic. The idea is to do something that will put your name in front of the prospect. If it’s a newsletter, or a very good joke, the underlying philosphy is to build your brand by rewarding people for knowing you.
The easiest thing is to do nothing but then the liklihood is that the business will go elsewhere. So your need is to do something, however small. Here’s a suggestion. Send this blog post to people you want to stay in touch with.
