I love attending both local and national level networking events. They are a great way to meet others in your industry and network with potential clients, collaborators, or connectors.
With the online space, networking has expanded from in-person events to virtual events such as coffee chats, masterminds, training sessions, or coworking times.
It’s likely that you will collect several business cards (either paper or virtual) and contacts from these events.
Now the question is, what should you do with these contacts?
Here are four suggestions on how to manage your contacts and connections:
Organize Them
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Sort the business cards you collected by category, such as potential clients, collaborators, or partners. Store the information in one central location for easy access. This could be a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system or a spreadsheet if you are just starting out. |
Follow Up
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Send a personalized follow-up email or message to each contact. This is an excellent opportunity to remind them of your conversation, where you connected, and thank them for their time. Ask them, if you haven’t already, for a one on one meeting to learn more about each other’s businesses or invite them to a recent piece of content (such as a blog post or social media video). |
Connect on Social Media
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Look up the people you met on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter and send them a connection request. This can help you build a stronger relationship and keep in touch in the long run. |
Add to Your Mailing List
If you have an email list (and if you don’t, then now is the time to start one!), ask for permission to add the people you met to it.
This can help you stay top of mind and provide value to them in the future.
Networking is a wonderful way to meet people in your industry and to connect with possible collaborators. You do not want a stack of business cards to grow dusty and forget who you met with during an event.
By following a regular set of steps – you can grow your list of potential clients, collaborators or partners.
