We had a great interaction this week, a story worth sharing. We heard from a guy who had been in one of our workshops in 2010, back when he was with one of our biggest client companies. He left that company in 2011, which is probably the last time we had any contact with him at all.
He tracked us down this week, and asked for a proposal on a project they are working on. We spent some time catching up on the phone, and then he described the help they need. And during our conversation, he mentioned several times that he was glad we had worked hard to stay in touch with him. As he told the story, it sounded like we had kept track of his changing email address (probably via LinkedIn) and kept him in our database for our occasional email blasts to clients and friends. He thanked me for staying in touch, and how we always seemed to find a way to stay top-of-mind with him. It was really great to catch up, and I am very grateful to my team for the work they do on keeping our database current.
We may end up working with him. We may not. But that’s not the point of the story. The point of today’s writing is the importance of staying in touch with your network… and how you stay in touch with your network. It takes intentional effort to maintain a database and keep it current. And it also keeps additional intentional effort to stay in touch with that network to share ideas of value. These are two separate and distinct behaviors and business choices. There is nothing fun about keeping your database current… it takes constant attention. And staying in touch with your network requires constantly straddling the line between not enough contact and too much. You won’t always get it right and you won’t always make everyone happy. But the effort is required.
Today’s example is a success story, even if we don’t end up doing business together. After ten years, we heard from a former client and friend, and he reached out to us about the possibility of a major project. The only reason he did that is because we kept our database current so we COULD stay in touch, and then stayed in touch enough so he thought of us when the time was right.
There are lessons here, for all of us. How you stay in touch will depend on your situation. But staying in touch with your network, for your next job, your next assignment, your next sales call, your next anything is a critical decision for you and your business.
We spend a lot of time thinking about it and working at it here at The Latimer Group. And you should also.
Have a great day.
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Does your team:
– Overwhelm the audience with too much detail?
– Make things too complicated?
– Fail to ask for what they want or need?
Does your organization:
– Waste time because of poor internal communication?
– Take too long to make decisions?
– Struggle to clarify and frame discussions?
Do your leaders:
– Exhibit poor executive presence?
– Lean on incomplete communication skills?
– Fail to align the organization?
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