tips

networking exercise: follow-up and follow through

| heather parlato

today’s LA area chamber networking exercise was about follow-up and follow through in making and keeping contacts. i always like to think i’m better at this than i am, but that seems to be a trend very common with people who do a lot of networking [i recently heard some advice that simply following through will put you in the top 95% of your field simply because people don’t do it!].

the idea was to go through a list of conditions of meeting people, and collaborate on what follow-up efforts best fit each situation. i worked with pamela edwards of innovative feng shui on improving our follow-up, the questions & answers are below:

what is the first thing you do when you receive a business lead?
research the lead online, email to make contact.

how do you acknowledge receipt of the lead?
thank the referrer with a personal call or email.

how do you qualify the lead?
research online, ask the referrer for background information, make a research call directly.

what steps do you take to contact the lead?
initial email with an invite to connect, follow up phone call, send an intro pack by mail.

what’s your strategy for connecting with the lead?
once qualified, set up a personal meeting to get to know each other and our businesses goals and see if we can work together. if not, see if we can refer each other.

what is your personal commitment to returning phone calls?
i return phone calls within 24 hours [personally, i prefer to find a best time to talk rather than return calls within an hour if i’m less focused].

what is your personal commitment for responding to emails?
i reply to emails asap [for some reason i can always craft a good email response in a busier setting than a phone call, so i do what i’m best at on the asap schedule].

how do you keep the referring person abreast of the lead?
rather than keep a set schedule for this, i do it at the natural milestones of the relationship. if the lead and i make plans, i take time to thank the referrer again. if i don’t hear from them, i give a week or so and ask the referrer if there is anything i should be aware of. if we work together, i usually follow up with the success of the project and another thanks [you can’t be too thankful for good referrals!].

what do you do to acknowledge leads that result in new business?
i don’t currently have a set discount kickback for referrers, but i will often kick down small favors or package extras with projects for those of my clients who have sourced new work for me.

how do you respond to requests for information on your business?
i have a lot of channels in place for clients and prospects to find information in their preferred forum. i usually invite them to view my web site with direct links in an email, i ask if they’d like to receive an intro pack, which is a printed sample of my work and intro to my services. i also post lots of start-up information in the about section of my site, which i’m happy to explain in person, but it’s also available to anyone looking for information online, including past client testimonials. finally, if they’d like to meet up and get to know each other better, i can bring a portfolio with printed samples of my work.

and finally, driving the point home is this biznik article i found corroborating the lack of follow up that could use vast improvement: How to Get Clients: One Thing You Must Do to Turn Prospects Into Clients by Sue Clement

networking exercise: who’s missing from your network

| heather parlato

“tipping the scales tuesday” at the LA area chamber’s referral breakfast involved growing your network by taking time to think about who you know, who they might know, and who you want to know, getting them all on a list, and taking action toward connecting with these people. the idea is simple, you make a list of people in your network you’d like to connect with in the next month, and then a list of people you haven’t met yet, that you’d like to connect with in the next 1-3 months. the list starts with names, but as you move into areas involving people you don’t yet know, you can come up with all kinds of avenues to tap into.

i worked with walt whitney of CPEhr to build our lists. here’s what we came up with [without naming any names].

people you know that you want to connect with:
– favorite clients
– friends & regular network contacts
– old friends you’ve found on social media networks who are up to something new
– former colleagues & co-workers

people you know of that you’d like to meet in the next few months:
– people you’ve met while networking that haven’t gotten enough face-time :: set up a meeting
– ask favorite clients & former colleagues for referrals :: good people will know more good people
– members of your professional organizations :: connect with your fellow members
– reach out to industry partners :: build your network through strategic partnerships
– esteemed colleagues :: compliment someone’s work you admire and ask them about it
– upcoming conferences :: research who’s going and make a list of who you’d like to meet
– upcoming mixers :: if you can get a list of attendees, email ahead and plan to meet

and speaking of upcoming mixers, don’t forget about our biznik happy hour tomorrow night.

networking exercise: just for the fun of business

| heather parlato

my LA area chamber breakfast had a networking exercise that focused on what we do to keep our businesses fun. i usually argue that my job is way too fun to actually need to put fun into it, but thereis a good list of unconventional work strategies my group came up with to keep ideas fresh and prevent our businesses from feeling like “jobs.”

things to do that keep the workday fun:
– find networking opportunities while traveling
– play golf with colleagues
– meet new people and get familiar with their interests & challenges
– co-strategize with clients and offer advice & solutions to each other
– brainstorm on how to make the experience of working with us fun & rewarding
– take mobile days when you can, work in inspiring environments
– partner with creative people who have new approaches to traditional problems

things we do just for fun that keep us inspired & how it impacts our businesses:
– travel, for exposure to new people, lifestyles & culture :: get out of your element
– take a day beach day, hike day, snow day or desert day when you can :: clear your head
– creative hobbies like writing, photography, gardening & drawing :: express yourself
– volunteer :: be giving to the people around you and connect more meaningfully

if you’re not getting enough fun out of your business, or you think you have to keep fun separate from work, take some of these ideas and see if you can implement them periodically. and if you have new ones, email me, i’m always looking for new ways to work that keep things interesting.

project breakdown: postcard mailings

| heather parlato

creative seeds postcard earthlink postcards

depending on your business focus, postcard mailings can really work for you as part of a support mechanism in a marketing plan. while i don’t recommend them as the only means of promotion, they can be a way to keep in touch with existing and potential clients, reminding them of who you are and what you do, and serving as a portion of those 6-12 touchpoints you make before you get hired. in a slowing economy, they can also be one of the most cost-effective ways to get a print piece into the hands of your target market, so here is a run-down of things to consider when planning a postcard campaign with helpful hints on how to stretch your dollars where they count most to you.

plan out the year: one of the first considerations should be how many postcards should be in the campaign and when should they drop throughout the year? i like to do an alternate of focused promotions with generic identity awareness and match them to seasons, but if your industry has its own annual calendar, you may be better off synching with that. whether you are pushing up to an event with a drop every couple weeks or spreading them out monthly or quarterly for regular visibility, you will want to decide how many mailings you want to do and how many different versions should be included in the campaign for an overall print quantity.

choose a mailing list: whether you use your own or buy a list from a mailing house, you will want to review who you’re sending to and decide now if you want to add to it. a good mailing house will have a well-maintained list of current addresses sorted by major marketing demographics, so you can literally pick an area or sector or business focus and add them to your campaign. mailing houses usually charge per address and per use [a lower fee for 1-time mailings where you don’t get a copy of the addresses, and a larger fee to re-use for 1-year where you do get the records], so consider how many times you’ll use the list and choose the best deal.

choose a print process: now that you know the quantities you’ll need you can plan out what print process is for you. always over-shoot your print run to the maximum quantity you think you might need. implicit in printing are set-up costs, so the higher the quantity, the more the set-up is defrayed by the per-piece cost. for runs under 500, you’ll want a gang printer or digital printer who specializes in postcard printing. for runs between 500-1000 you can choose between gang, digital and offset, though the true value of offset may not become apparent until quantities above 1000. for gang & digital runs, you will be limited to process inks [cmyk], whereas offset can give you spot colors [pms or pantone] and coatings [uv, gloss, dull, aqueous, etc.]. any time you can print all your cards at once, do it. a printer can work with you on a shorter run if you can gang it all up at once, and they will reward you for planning ahead and being efficient if it saves them time and money as well.

environmental considerations: getting honest for a minute here, many postcards will be glanced at and likely end up in the recycling bin. more print shops are taking recycling and environmental concerns to heart, so you can choose a printer that makes this process relatively green-friendly. choose recycled paper, and avoid metallic inks or uv coatings [they don’t de-ink well in the recycling process]. and show off your good choices by printing the info in the small print of your card, throw a recycling logo on when applicable, thank your recipients for reading your material and remind them to recycle it appropriately.

postcard sizes
sizing and pricing: the last thing to consider is the size of your card and how it affects the mailing price. postcards of 6″ wide by 4.25″ tall and below fall into the 27¢ first class mailing rate, while any cards above that size will be given the standard letter rate. bulk rates start at mailing quantities of 500 and have many specifications and categories, so you will want to get a price based on your specific project, but overall, you can get your per-piece mailing price down to about 20¢ if you follow certain specifications. however, there is also a set-up charge for bulk mailings, so you will want to plan for a quantity well above 500 to make it worthwhile.

now you’re ready for design! of course, any good designer will make you aware of all these considerations, and help you plan them out in the course of developing a postcard campaign. use this guide as a check-list of all the points to hit when planning a budget. i’m happy to answer any questions you may have about postcard campaigns, please feel free to ask away!

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