Use this simple technique for managing and updating your list of contacts. Network your way to more business and a great list of references.
What is your circle of influence? How large is your sphere of contacts? Are there gaps in your personal effect matrix? I think I have started to confuse myself. What I am trying to say is: How do you manage the list of people you have as contacts? Everyone has a list, whether it is in an address book or a business card file or in your computer. Everyone has a list. I want to address how you should manage your list and make the list work for you.
I found that my list of business contacts was is an old box from some business cards I had ordered. I had a stack of business cards from people I had met and from companies I had dealt with. My problem was that if I needed a locksmith, I would have to thumb through the cards to find the one I was looking for. Unless I happen to remember the name of the person I had dealt with before. Then, I could maybe look them up in my e-mail contacts. But, not every person in the box was listed in my e-mail contacts and vice versa not all of the e-mail contacts had corresponding business cards in the box.
So, I decided that I should list all of my contacts. But I listed them or order of profession. I listed them in alphabetical order by profession, like, Accountants, Bankers, Contractors, and so on. This made the list easy to scan and find what I was looking for. Although, this new re-ordered list help to spread some light on my list of contacts. There were holes. There were gaps in some professions. I obviously do not know every person in every profession, but I there are some companies I use that I did not have a contact for. So I decided to complete the list.
I grabbed my phone book and started looking at headings. When I got to one I did not have a contact for I decided I would start asking friends and relatives for a reference. Someone they had dealt with that would be a good contact for me. For instance; I did not have a Pool Contractor, for in ground swimming pool design and installation. So, I started asking friends that had pools if they could recommend someone. I do not have a pool, but I wanted to be prepared for the instance when someone I know might ask me for a recommendation concerning their pool. This makes me valuable to that friend. I wanted to have a complete list of contacts. I started going to the local Chamber of Commerce meetings. During the business card swap luncheons I targeted business men and women that could fill a gap in my list. I started conversations with them and asked if I could pass their information along to friends when asked. Of course, they always say yes. Why wouldn’t they, that is the one reason we were at these luncheons. We were there to meet people and spread the word about our services.
So now I have a pretty full list. Some of the names I reference often, and others not so often. So, in order to stay in touch I keep an eye out for news and print articles that may interest the people on my list. For instance; if I see a news paper article about a new housing sub-division in an affluent neighborhood, I might clip that out and send it to my Pool Contractor. He might be aware of it and he might not but either way he will be grateful that I was thinking of him. Hopefully when his trade organization needs a speaker for their quarterly event he will put in the good word for me. I do not spend hours a day scanning news papers for interesting stuff to pass on. I just keep my eyes peeled and if I happen upon some worthy information I pass it along. Sometime I even get the chance to personally give my support. If I get asked for a recommendation I will gladly refer to my list and give them the names of the person that fills that spot on my list.
This technique helps me to keep my list manageable and to keep in touch with those on my list that I do not interact with everyday. I also found that my e-mail program has a “category” marker. So I just created a category for each profession. No I can arrange the names by category or by name or by company. This is very helpful. I will say that it took a few days to get everything inserted into the e-mail client and marked with the proper category. But, now that it is done I am able to manage the list, update information quickly, and add or subtract names as the list grows.
Good luck and I hope that you can use my technique to help you grow your list and expand your circle of influence. Go fill the gaps in your list.