Since the start of the pandemic, my network has grown exponentially. I’m part of the ProVisors business network, and I write about that frequently. It’s the best organization I’ve ever joined! I’m meeting a lot of great people, some of whom have become referral partners and others are professionals from whom I’ve learned a tremendous amount (about marketing, coaching and a host of other subjects).
While I always tell my clients that the quality of your relationships is more important than quantity, it does feel good to have a really strong network nationally. Zoom and other virtual tools have enabled me to attend many more networking functions since the start of the pandemic.
But as I continue to meet new people, quite honestly, it can be challenging to remember all of the details.
While I might remember what they do, professionally, knowing things that are more personal are critical in relationship building. Who likes small dogs? Who is a basketball fanatic? Who likes to drink fine wines? Who is interested in the outdoors? Who grew up on Long Island like me? Who went to school with my cousins?
These may seem like unimportant details when you’re trying to do business, but in many ways, these are the most important details to keep track of.
If you are like me, though, you get to a point rather quickly where it is hard to keep track of everything.
So here is what I do. I write things down! I do this either while I am on Zoom call or on a phone call. But even if you just want to focus on the conversation or if you meet somebody in person, all you need to do is to make sure to write down some notes after the meeting ends or after you walk out of the event.
If people hand you a business card that gives you one place to keep the information until you have a chance to record it. The important thing is to do it soon so that you don’t forget.
I’m sure many of you are already doing this already; but in speaking to hundreds of attorneys in the last 30 years, I know that many are not.
Having some sort of contact manager is also essential. There are many solutions on the market, but Outlook is actually just fine if you’re just working by yourself.
The important thing is to find a way to write things down so that you can go back to them and so that you can remember who to send that funny cartoon to or who you can share that article with.
These details are also important when you reconnect with people so that you can reestablish rapport.
As we preach at ProVisors, people refer work to people they know like and trust. That trust does not grow simply by sharing with each other what our technical skills are. It runs much deeper.
So what tools are you using to keep track of the personal details of people in your network?
