Jul 10
27
Relationships Depend on Follow-up!
Whether online or offline, nurturing a relationship is like growing a rose garden. 
It takes patience and persistent attention. Following up is like fertilizing and watering your relationship roses; it must be done consistently to keep them alive and flourishing.
But not all follow up is created equal. Just as some gardeners grow prettier roses than others, some sales people are more effective at follow up than others. It takes more than a simple, “nice to meet you — let’s keep in touch” or “Let me know if I can help,” to grow a beautiful relationship.
Whether online or offline we need to engage and interact to build relationships
The fortune is in the follow-up!
Ian Brodie helps independent Professionals find, win and retain clients. He recommends the following in his blog:
Many people who we would like to build a relationship with may not immediately see the value in building a relationship with us. But we can significantly increase our chances of this if we follow-up effectively.
The best follow-up is one that adds value to the recipient. Perhaps some thoughts to help them, or links to useful resources. The more it’s clear you’ve thought about them and how to help them, the more likely they are to classify you as “someone to trust”.
Of course, in order to do that, you need to understand what might be useful to them. And that means that you need to ask them questions during the event (and remember or take note of the answers) to identify what would be helpful. Understanding their business challenges or goals is critical to this.
If you want your friendship flowers to bloom, you have to follow up well. If you don’t have time to follow up, maybe making more contacts is wasting your time. Do you have “Relationship Overload” ?
