We’ve talked about some tips for what to do when you attend a networking event, but what do you do afterwards? The key to getting any value out of these events lives in your follow up! Here are 3 quick tips on how to get the most of of a networking event after you attend!
1. You have 24 hours!
You get home with a purse or pocket full of new business cards and therefore new contacts. You have 24 hours to contact them! Take more than that and you risk losing credibility and giving the appearance that you’re not on top of it and that meeting them was an afterthought and not important enough for you to do a quick follow up within a day.
2. How to follow up!
So what do you write when you follow up? That depends entirely on the nature of your connection and the conversation you had. If you simply had a nice interaction and didn’t see any reason to schedule a follow up, then send a LinkedIn invite and remind your new contact where you met and say that it was great to meet them. If you spoke about action items, it’s important to remind the person about what those were and ask to schedule a call or meeting to review those in more detail. If you met and felt like there would be value in getting together 1 on 1, ask for a meeting.
3. Take it one step further!
What’s better than you getting something out of a new relationship? The answer: You facilitating the other person getting something out of it! If you felt like you have a contact or two who would be a great value to your new contact, send an introduction for them via email and/or offer to arrange a three-way meeting or lunch. Always look at new connections as someone whom you might be able to help, not about what they can do for you. This kind of thinking will open up a world of connections for you to people who are equally as generous and you’ll wonder why you ever looked at it any other way!
Remember: Step 1: Do your homework before you attend an event. Step 2: Follow our tips on effective ways to network at an event. Step 3: Have effective follow up! Now go, network, and connect!
By Darrah Brustein
Darrah is the co-founder of Equitable Payments, a merchant services brokerage; author of Finance Whiz Kids, a series of kids book that teach the basics of financial education; and founder of Network Under 40, a social and professional networking franchise that helps bring Under 40s together to make valuable connections.
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