Yesterday I called the company I contract most of my writing through.
The first thing out of the mouth of the woman I talked to was, “We thought you didn’t like us anymore.”
Huh?
I told her that since we hadn’t talked in two weeks I had feared the same thing.
Had I not followed up, I probably wouldn’t have gotten more assignments because the editors thought we had a problem and I was worried there might be a problem. That is not a recipe for getting more work!
Since I called and talked to them, everything was confirmed as still being hunky-dory …read more

Yes, you’re still on the business channel, don’t get scared, this won’t take long.
I’ve been potty training my 3-year-old on and off (for her safety and my sanity!) for the last four months. She has gone through bouts where she screamed when someone said the word “potty” all the way to being all zealous and happy about it. The times when she was excited were very few and very far between.
So I turned to my network. Yes, my business network.
I called the business people I knew that had kids. Some I wasn’t sure and I called them anyway. …read more

Today is my birthday.
Of course, I wouldn’t have a party on Monday night, so we had it this past Saturday when people were off work and available to attend. One of the things I’ve done the past couple years is to invite both business and personal acquaintances/friends to the birthday party at my home. I find that this is a great way to get to know people better and it gives me a chance to get them all soused while they stare adoringly at my amazing margarita maker.
One of the people attending was someone I had only met during …read more

On Successful and Outstanding Bloggers (successful-blog.com for those of you who type URLs) Liz writes something deep and meaningful on social networking:
We have to know each other for the “friend” part to work or network like it’s supposed to.

Just adding people doesn’t make them friends. Handing your business card to someone does not make them want to help you. There has to be a human aspect – a connection – for the rest to fall into place.

So you may have a lot of business cards, but how many of those cards are from someone that knows you. Not all your …read more

I’ve heard people say things pay off in spades before, but today is the first day something has paid off for me in truffles.
A friend of mine perceived her experience with a service provider I personally recommended as less-than-positive.
I felt awful about it and offered to do the same service for her, free of charge, when she needed it next. About three months later, she calls me in a panic and says she needs the service immediately and it needs to be reviewed by Whole Foods Markets so it has to be good and she doesn’t know …read more

Gary Vaynerchuk (who I have a huge platonic crush on!) had an amazing video post from April 30th that I think everyone in the world should see.

Becasue WOM (word of mouth) Marketing….is networking with a goal.
Tadum!

So you met this great person, you hung out, you went to networking events and had lots of fun and made a bunch of connections. For whatever reason, you started talking less and less, until you hadn’t talked to them in a few months. What to do?
Pick up the phoneAfter a certain amount of time, most people get jittery about just picking up the phone and dialing. It’s no wonder, you start to think maybe the other person doesn’t like you anymore and wanted you to go away all along. All kinds of things (mostly horribly unrealistic) will cross your …read more

You’re probably thinking that I’ve lost my mind, talking about direct mail in a networking blog. Well I lost my mind a long time ago, but stick with me…this will all make sense in a paragraph or so!
Someone asked me yesterday if they should send out a letter to 70 companies identified from a Chamber of Commerce list. She narrowed it down to businesses she would like to do business with. She attached a sample of her letter in which she had added some suggestions I’d made (because I tell everyone to use recession to strike fear into people’s …read more

When you make a business acquaintance, you probably covered some personal stuff along with exchanging information on just how darn smart you both are and how great your businesses are.
That’s normal, and good, and bully for you getting someone to open up to you and be comfortable!
When you follow up with them, don’t make it a hard-and-fast rule to only talk about business. If you talked about spouses or kids or dogs or Chia Pets by all means, use that information to help the person remember who you are. This isn’t some sleazy sales technique, it puts the …read more