When Are You Bothering Your Network?
Concern about "bothering" people is something I hear about a lot as I
network.
A brief story. I was ordering some products from a networking
associate of mine. We had been networking long enough that we had
become friends. It had been about two weeks since I had spoken to her
about it, and I was wondering why I hadn't received a quote for my
items. When I asked, she said she had sent me the quote two weeks earlier,
right after we had spoken. I checked, and I had not received it. When
we investigated further, we found that she had an old email address. We
fixed that, and I got my quote. When I asked if she hadn't thought it
strange that I had taken so long to respond, she said she had. I asked
why she hadn't followed up with me earlier. She said she hadn't wanted
to bother me.
Okay, let me take this piece by piece. First,
she is in sales, and I had indicated I was buying from her and no
other, so I was as live a prospect as they come. But as you know from
last month, live prospects can die very quickly if you don't follow up
with them promptly. And why would a sales person ever let a live
prospect hang for so long without follow up?
Second. Remember the part about her and I being friends? Since when is it a bother to touch base with a friend?
Third,
we are not just friends. We are networking associates. The nature of
that relationship should be that we stay in touch. About possible
referrals. About great networking events. Whatever. That relationship
gave her more than ample reason to contact me without being a "bother."
And
that, loyal readers, is the real point of this story. When you are
networking, you are building relationships. A referral relationship is very different from a
cold call. Okay, as a salesperson, my attitude is to continue to follow up
until the prospect says "Get lost," whether from a referral or a cold
call. But I get that not everyone can be that persistent. Howver, a
referral partner is not a cold call. A referral is not a cold call. The
strength of the relationship buys you the right to follow up without
being a "bother."
So who is in your pipeline with whom you haven't
followed up in the last week? Pick up the phone or send them an
email right now. You aren't bothering them. In fact, they are probably
waiting for that call.
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