Evaluating Opportunity

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Who’s the Doormat and Who’s The Door?

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

In this post we take a look at how tolerations and boundaries impact our lives. So, what are you tolerating? Where do you and where don’t you set boundaries? When do you feel that you lie down and get walked on? When do you step fully through the doorways that are important to you? If you live for career life balance, then it is easier to define what is important and how to get more of it.

That’s the good news; the other news is that life is a journey. The other day I finished up a meeting and got into my car with a sigh. This sigh was a mix of frustration, anger and relief. Isn’t it amazing that one breath can contain so much? And then, as I began to think, the frustration and anger parts began to take over. I had just left a situation where I was definitely the doormat, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t say what I wanted, I didn’t articulate how I saw the situation, and worst of all, I committed to doing some things that I didn’t want to do, on a timeline that didn’t suit my schedule and for a fee that didn’t honor the value I brought to the situation or had committed to making. What was going on?

Does this sound familiar? It happens to all of us in one form or another when we aren’t living according to our values and vision. This is especially true when we are negotiating around money and time. We are so committed to giving our clients great service and caring for our families that we forget two things. First, if we live from our values, we can create the boundaries for what is really important. Second, we have a good handle what matters, we don’t get upset about the small stuff and we don’t tolerate things that don’t meet our goals.

The flip side of the toleration coin is control. The flip side of the boundaries coin is acceptance. When we don’t feel in control, we begin to “tolerate” things we don’t agree with, like clients that don’t treat us well and getting mad at traffic because we didn’t leave on time. The glass feels half empty instead of half full. And, we can work this downward spiral all the way to the floor – becoming doormats.

When we know our boundaries and live to honor them, we have the space to choose when we open the door, or close it and go see what’s at the window. Creating and understanding boundaries allows us to see and accept alternatives more easily.

So, pick up the doormat and shake out the dirt. The following tips will help you reduce what you’re tolerating, frame the doorways that give you fulfillment and open the door to career life balance.

Know what’s important. Think about and write down your values. These are the foundations for creating your boundaries, and as important, they allow you to prioritize what is truly important.

Notice what is happening. This is one of the easiest ways to avoid getting into toleration mode. Try this test – spend the next 24 hours separating yourself from what is happening. Take your daily commute, which involved circumstances that are wholly separate from you, like traffic volume and the actions of other drivers. These are circumstances – not you! You are a complete being unto yourself. You get to decide how you want to handle the drive. You choose whether to take a deep breath and not get stressed out, whether to gun it when someone moves into your lane, or ease up on the gas and let them in. Be crazy – smile at everyone you pass on the way to work one day. Play with noticing how you are choosing to be and how it works for you.

Set your boundaries in accordance with your values. As you become aware of circumstance, you can notice where your values are being honored, or not. On a personal level, regular eating is required. Yet, many of us choose not to eat lunch because we’re too busy. We choose to work over feeding our engines. No wonder we feel like we are tolerating situations. We’re literally running on empty! So, a boundary can be as simple as “I get to eat something at least once every 6 hours. Boundaries allow us to focus on what is important. Another example may be that you provide the most value by working for clients in a certain way and this requires getting paid a certain rate. Set your boundary for your rates and stick to them. See what happens. You may need to bend occasionally, but creating the boundary means that you are consciously choosing, not getting walked on.

Accept circumstance and tenaciously go after what’s important. When you separate yourself from circumstance, you get to choose what happens for you, not to you. You can’t change busy work days and you can figure out how to eat anyway. This isn’t rocket science – order in, bring a power bar and an apple, schedule email responses just twice a day and simply take lunch. This is where tenacity comes in and the rubber meets the road. If you aren’t willing to make some changes to reduce your tolerations, then you aren’t as aggravated as you think you are. Stop whining and get on with your life. However, if you are, then recognize that there may be some sacrifices, like going to bed 30 minutes earlier so you can get up and make lunch in the morning.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. We live in the richest country on this planet. Most of us have safe homes and enough to eat, which gives us time to worry about the little things. Make a list of what you complain about and then compare it to what you hold dear. Are you getting sidetracked by the details instead of going for the big wins? What boundaries would help you focus on the big picture? One example, “I won’t join the daily whine-fest about traffic when I get into the office. I’ll say good morning and get to work so that I can eat lunch today.”

Remember that you always have a choice about how you react or not to circumstance. Know what it’s important, write down your boundaries and get creative about reducing what you tolerate.

Potholes — Tolerations Part 1

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

We all have stuff we don’t like to do. And when it comes to work, there are definitely some tasks that are more pleasant than others.

I call the things we don’t like to do “tolerations.” If you don’t stay on top of them, these things can puncture your success bubble as surely as a monster Massachusetts pothole can pop your front tire.

Potholes like tolerations can be deceiving. Metaphorically speaking, when they sit on your desk, your tolerations crumble away at your energy every time your mind drives over it, making your day less efficient. Instead of smooth sailing down a nicely paved highway, your daily route suddenly looks like an obstacle course. You’re constantly swerving around unfinished tasks, trying to avoid the potholes and bumps. The more tolerations (potholes) in your road, the slower and more challenging your progress becomes, plus, the longer it takes to get there. Or worse, you’re driving too fast and miss or get hit by a big one!

You own your own road. So you’ll have to fill in the holes yourself, hire someone else to do the work, tow you out, and/or pay the price in repairs down the road.

Here are some common tolerations that might be eating away at your pavement.

Bookkeeping
Budgeting
Collections
Editing your resume
Writing your business plan
Filing
Cleaning out your inbox
Organizing your desk
Accepting clients you call “P.I.A.” clients (Pains in the Ass*)

* You recognize the signs everytime, trust your intuition. Life is too short. Why tolerate it! Patch that business pothole

Sometimes, we can hang onto tolerations in order to justify our sense of suffering. When your road is full of ruts, you might feel a bit noble about your burdens — as in, “I have so much to do! Look how hard my road is to travel!” In the end, though, this is an expensive source of self-esteem, and it can block you from real progress. After all, what are you really getting out of martyrdom?

There can be a kind of joy in the menial and frustrating tasks that can become our potholes. When you finally do finish that bookkeeping, it will probably feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

A case in point: I’ve been meaning to populate this years budget, which means reviewing all of last year’s numbers and every month since December it would drive through my mind. Then I’d justify it by saying in my head to myself, “I’ll have a better sense after the 1st quarter.” I decided it’s time to fill in the pothole. So, last night I finally compared actuals to budget and to my surprise I am down $150 per month in expenses. When you sit down and bang out your business plan, the clarity you gain might supply the momentum to move you forward to the next phase. Now I can allocate those extra funds to something else and reinvest in my business.

Are you tolerating outstanding receivables? When you start making those collection calls, you might feel a sense of empowerment, because you know what? You do deserve to get paid!

Cataloging your tolerations can be really enlightening. Some of my clients have had transformational breakthroughs around this exercise. After all, seeing the potholes is the first and most important step toward fixing them!

You can take an inventory of your tolerations by downloading this exercise What Am I Tolerating and call me for your complimentary coaching consult.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEBSITE? Please do, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Dawn Quesnel, CPCC, PCC, known as Coach DQ, is a professional coach, radio show host and workshop leader. Through the use of her B.R.I.D.G.E. programs she helps marketing, advertising, and creative entrepreneurs navigate career or business transition while maintaining a healthy career-life balance. Her core belief that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, consistently leads clients to uncover hidden resources and strengths. B.R.I.D.G.E. the gap and accelerate your career so you can love your life now! Visit www.CareerLifeBalance.net or http://www.coachdq.com today or for more information email me.

The Robins Are Doing the Deal

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Spring in New England is a wonderful, busy time. When I look at my yard, all of nature seems to be networking, planting seeds and making new contacts. Everything is focused on renewal and reconnection.

“Spring Fever” isn’t just for lovers: there’s a real surge of energy in the air at this time of year, and that makes April the perfect month to jump-start your business. Everyone’s coming out of their winter hibernation, anxious to be part of the world again, and that makes this a prime time for networking.

Here are some steps to take to help you take advantage of Spring’s buoyant energy:

Confirm your goals for this year. Write them down, and post them somewhere where you’ll look at them often.
Choose a goal, and write down all the skills that you have to support it. These are the things that you do on a daily basis which will make your goal possible — things like providing great customer service, creating strategic visions, delivering projects on time, or organizing people or information.
Get some backup. Ask friends, colleagues, and existing clients for testimonials and other concrete support. Sometimes, just knowing that other people think you’re great at what you do is enough to pull you out of a muddy winter rut!
Network! Start talking about your goals, and reach out to people who can help you achieve them. Make a list of twenty-five people who you know have information, resources, or advice that will help you. Try to connect with at least five of them each week.
Play “Six Degrees of Separation.” You’re closer than you might think to the people who can help you achieve your goals. Start by making five columns on a sheet of paper.

o Column 1: The person you’d ultimately like to contact (i.e., VP of Marketing at Company X).
o Column 2: How you can be a great resource for the person in Column 1.
o Column 3: People you know who may be able to help you reach the person in Column 1. Get creative here. Utilize your whole social pool.
o Column 4: the date by which you will contact the person in Column 1.
o Column 5: The actual date of contact (and subsequent celebration!).

If you automatically get anxious at the thought of networking, remember that it takes practice — and that even Einstein consulted his colleagues when he was formulating the theory of relativity! And if you need a more earthy comparison, think about those robins bustling around outside your window, or the squirrels chattering in your trees. They work together to make like better. A “networking buddy” can be a great partner in accountability; share your goals and plans to keep one another on track.

For fun, here is the link to the Wikipedia Six Degrees of Separation game. It certainly helps us understand how close we are to anyone we would like to contact. Just promise yourself not to waste too much time playing with Kevin Bacon when you could be playing for your own success. Here is the link, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon.

Using Your Business Intuition

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

On February 2, Tara and I did an interview on BrainTalk Radio with Carrie Hart, author of A Call to Greatness. It was a great exploration into how intuitive thinking can serve the businessperson in very practical and tangible ways.

Carrie says that the expansion of her business began with getting in touch with her intuition. This didn’t mean denying her practical nature; rather, it meant incorporating her “right-brained” self into her left-brained business.

One of Carrie’s primary gifts is intuitive hearing: she quiets her mind, asks a question, and listens for the answer. She started with a “word of the day,” which she would write down without allowing her mind to ask any questions. While the word might not make sense immediately, she would understand it clearly by the end of the day. Every morning, she put herself “in the pocket,” until she was able to slip into that receptive state comfortably and easily. Then, she moved on to asking bigger, more complicated questions. Always, the answers she received guided her in the right direction.

Before a big interview for a consulting job, Carrie went into the ladies room with a scrap of paper, and asked, “How should I approach this?” The startling answer she got was, “Don’t let her get away with it!”

The woman Carrie was meeting with had recently left the job that Carrie was going to be taking over. She seemed so nice — but suddenly, Carrie realized that the plan the woman had been outlining was completely unsubstantiated. “She had written this project plan with these milestone dates with absolutely no possibility of hitting those dates, and no backup behind them. It was all because I had that message in my head…it opened up the whole project for me.” Carrie ended up working with the company for seven years. Her success was founded on the fact that she was able to approach the project from a realistic, grounded viewpoint, instead of basing her targets on the unrealistic plan her predecessor had thrown at her.

Later in the interview, Carrie gave another example of how her intuition served her in her relationship with her boss. “I had this one woman I was working with. She and I had an interesting connection. Before I met with her I would always tune in, and I would get this great advice…She was the senior Vice President where I was working and I had a weekly status meeting with her. One time, I had this long agenda of all these things I needed to go over with her. 10 minutes before the meeting, I went into my space, and asked, how should I approach this? The message I got was, ‘She’s very busy. You’ll have one minute. Just bring up one thing — that’s all.’ So I went through and changed my whole agenda. When I walked in, she said, ‘Oh, Carrie, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I have to cancel today’s meeting. I’m so busy.’ And I said, ‘That’s okay, I’ll only take one minute. I just have this one important point to talk to you about.’”

You can also use your intuition to prioritize tasks based on the demands of the day. If you have a list of people you need to call or e-mail, write it out on a piece of paper. Sometimes, names will just jump out at you, or appear to be ringed with light. These are the people you should prioritize. Also make sure the questions you ask of your intuition are open-ended, because sometimes the answer you receive won’t be the one you were expecting — as was the case for Carrie in her interview. “You’ll get answers at the level at which you ask questions,” Carrie says. “If I allow my intuition to truly be my guide, I can be led to things much grander than what my limited question might be asking for.”

Engaging your intuition takes practice, just like anything else. A short daily Q&A session is a great way to get in touch with those “gut feelings” that can guide you through challenging moments. To learn more about Carrie, check out www.carriehart.com. Her other web site, www.poweranimalsunleashed.com, is a great example of an interactive web site that melds technology with intuition.

Listen to the full interview http://www.blogtalkradio.com/coach-dq

Working On Vs. Working In Your Business

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

What’s the difference between working ON your business and working IN your business?

When you’re working IN your business, you’re involved in generating the product or service your business provides. If you’re a salesperson, you’re selling. If you’re a consultant, you’re consulting. If you’re a manufacturer, you’re manufacturing. When we say, “I’m running my business,” this is what we generally think of.

When you’re working ON your business, you’re maintaining your pipeline: networking, researching new markets, preparing sales strategies, updating your marketing materials and web site. Basically, you’re ensuring that, in the future, you’ll be able to keep working IN your business, because you’ll have enough business to keep your business running.

When you look at it objectively, it’s easy to see the value of working ON your business. Unfortunately, knowing it’s important doesn’t always translate to getting it done. It’s very easy to get caught up in the minutia of the daily grind, and lose sight of the big picture.

Ideally, you should be spending about 20% of your time working ON your business. That means one to two hours a day, every day. Without fail.

If you just thought, “That’s impossible! I’ll never get everything done!” then you may need to step back and take another look at your workload. What if you started to delegate, just a little bit? Would that free up more time for you to work ON (a.k.a. grow) your business?

I’ve seen it over and over. People fail to prioritize the aspects of running a business which feel less immediate. But when the project ends, and the work dries up, they’ve got nothing in the pipeline. Then, they have to scramble to generate a pile of new business, which leaves them overwhelmed, and working from a place of lack. Some people have called this “the Money Rollercoaster.”

Here are some ways you can work ON your business every day, so you don’t end up on a wild ride.

Attend networking and/or industry events
Update your social networking sites and web site to reflect your current needs/goals/products
Send e-mails to potential contacts and clients
Ask your network contacts for introductions
Make at least one phone call to a new contact or client per day
Develop low-cost marketing strategies you can implement yourself
Set short– and long-term goals for your business, and create strategies which help you move toward those goals

If you have trouble prioritizing this kind of work over your “real” work, or if you feel ineffective when it comes to strategizing and marketing, don’t worry: you’re not the only one. But once you learn to work ON your business as well as IN your business, you’ll find that you gain a much finer sense of control, purpose, and direction. And isn’t that worth an hour a day?

Are You Distracted?

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Did you know that the average person only works about 2 – 3 hours per day?

I know. You get up early, take your place behind your desk, and spend your day dealing with whatever comes up. By the time five o’clock comes, you’re exhausted. But how much of your workday is actually devoted to work — and how much is spent dealing with distraction?

This is a common theme among my job search clients. “I want to meet my goals for networking/phone calls/prospecting/working on my resume,” they tell me, “but all these other things keep coming up!” It’s easy to see how this can happen. We don’t live in bubbles (well, most of us don’t, anyway) and so there is always the chance that distractions will come into our space and break our focus.

Here are some common distractions:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Text messages
Phone calls unrelated to the project at hand
Small talk with coworkers
E-mail and e-mail notifications
Internet browsing

Of course, all of these things should have a place in your schedule, especially if you’re working your networking pipeline. But you don’t necessarily need to attend to them the second they pop up. Would it really be a bad thing to turn off your text message and e-mail notifications for two or three hours a day? When you receive a distracting phone call, could you simply let it go to voice-mail — or say, “Can I call you back later, when I can give you my full attention?” If you’re immersed in a “dollars now” activity, listening to your friend’s Best Vegas Weekend Ever stories won’t necessarily serve you (or her, since you’re not giving her your full attention).

Some distractions are inevitable. But if you’re feeling scattered, there are steps you can take to control the chaos.

Hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your office door for one hour in the morning, and one hour in the afternoon. (I designed a cute little sign that reads F.O.C.U.S. — Fulfilling Obligations! Caution: Under Strict deadlines!)
Turn off the text message, e-mail notifications, and Facebook alerts on your mobile phone and/or iPad. You might choose to create an e-mail autoresponder that says something like, “In order to be more efficient, I will now be answering e-mail only at 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM.” If someone urgently needs a response from you, they can contact you by telephone.
If you work from home, don’t let pets come in to snuggle. If you have older children, ask that they respect your work space when they get home from school (or design your work hours around their schedules, so you can give them your full attention).
Try not to engage your coworkers in small talk unless you really want to be distracted. You can always chitchat on your breaks, over lunch, or outside of the office.
Don’t update your Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networking sites during the hours you’ve designated for work. If you’re a business owner, work with these tools during the hours you’ve designated for marketing/business strategy.

While some of us are better at multitasking than others, no one is truly great at it. You can’t divide your attention into that many pieces and still be fully invested in any of them. Divide your time, not your mind! When you implement strategies for efficiency, you not only increase your productivity, you reduce your stress, and might actually reduce the number of hours spent behind your desk!

Your First 90 Days (Part 2)

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Phase 2: Clearing a Path
During days 45 – 60, it’s helpful to step back a bit and observe the interpersonal dynamics of your new company and workplace. No matter how autonomous you are in your job position, no one works in a vacuum. And if you’re part of an office or corporate team, your success is even more dependent on how you relate to the people around you.

When you enter a new work environment, it’s worth it to take the time to get to know the people who work around you: your boss, your colleagues, your team, and the people under your direction. Learn how they work, and make note of their communication styles. Make it clear that you want to be part of the team, and ask questions about work flow and communication within your direct group of influence. Identify potential trouble spots— like, “Well, Judy likes to hide those project files on her personal desktop, so no one else can mess them up,” or, “John never copies anyone on those e-mails. He just replies directly to the clients.” Consult with other staff members to learn more about personal and company priorities, ongoing projects, and any workplace dynamics which might impact how you get your own job done.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in this phase:

What is your personal communication style?
What people or situations in your workplace do you feel are supportive of you?
What people or situations challenge you?
How can you adjust or improve your communication techniques to better serve your position and the goals of your team/department/company as a whole?

Phase 3: Milestones and Landmarks
By the time you’ve been in your new position for eight weeks or so, you should have a good grasp of your workplace dynamic. You’ve taken steps to streamline your own communication strategies and adapt them to the needs of your position and your team as a whole. Then, armed with this information, you can begin to establish concrete goals and standards based on the capabilities of your team and your own capabilities within that team environment.

With the help of your supervisor or team members, develop specific performance indicators that will help you create and sustain a standard of work you’re comfortable with. Look at which trends are ongoing, and which are project-related. Establish systems for delegating tasks, and checks and balances to prevent important information from slipping through the cracks (i.e., ask Judy to save those files on the server, where they belong). Where possible, make tactful suggestions as to how communication and planning might be improved within your team and the company at large.

Another key action in this phase is to set personal goals for yourself. Work with your boss to set up a six-month review. Establish milestones, and make note of your “landmarks” — the long-term goals you want to set your sights on. Develop strategies for reaching these smaller and larger goals, which may or may not be tied to monetary compensation. If your boss isn’t supportive, try to implement these strategies on your own. Even if no one else knows you have a personal plan in play, setting short-and long-term goals can keep you motivated, active, and engaged in your work long after your first ninety days are over.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in Phase 3:

What are your short-term goals (milestones) in your current position?
What are your long-term goals (landmarks) in your current position?
What specific actions do you have to take in order to move toward those goals?
How can you engage both your peers and your superiors in order to meet these objectives more effectively?

With a strategy firmly in place, you can make your first ninety days on the job productive and effective, and ensure that the next phase of your work experience moves forward in a smooth and positive manner.

Franchise Business Owner Transitions to a Career in…

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Coach DQ Client Case Study

What was happening in your life when you called Coach DQ?

I owned a few fitness franchises and was working as a regional developer the corporate headquarters and was considering a career change. I was referred to Coach DQ by someone I look up to. My friend had recently made a big career transition, and said, “I didn’t make my choices alone. I had the help of a coach.”

At that point, I didn’t even know what a coach did, but coaching had worked for my friend, so I decided to give it a try.

I loved my job, but the company had lost sight of its mission statement, and I felt that its values no longer aligned with my own. The problem was, I wasn’t sure what my own values were, let alone how to use them to construct a plan for shaping a new career. Using her Bridge mapping techniques and other tools, Coach DQ helped me find my core values, articulate my vision, develop a game plan, and much more. Everything suddenly became much clearer.

What was most helpful about the process?

To me, the best part of the process was the accountability. It was a soft accountability, though. Coach DQ wasn’t an enforcer; rather, she was pleasantly persistent. She knew what I needed to do to get where I wanted to go, but also respected the fact that my schedule can be very hectic at times. Instead of pushing me, and trying to establish concrete goals and deadlines for my progress, she just put ideas out there and let me run with them. In this way, she was able to keep me on track and moving forward at what felt like a natural, rather than a regimented, pace.

What have you accomplished since working with Coach DQ? What was the “end result” of your coaching experience?

Well, the “results” are still in the works. But I’ve been able to establish a clear vision for my future, and I feel good about the direction in which I’m moving. Currently, I’m in the negotiating process working feverishly to bring things to a close. I also have two exciting new opportunities in the fire. Although the loose ends have yet to be wrapped up, I know my results are right there, waiting for me.

I feel that Coach DQ’s methods and assistance allowed me to create positive shifts in my professional life in a much more organized, systematic, and effective way than I would have been able to implement on my own.

Effective Networking Strategies, Part 2

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Last week, we looked at how to categorize your networking contacts in a way that works for you. Now, let’s talk about how you can follow up effectively with your new contacts. I’ll use my system as an example, since it works well for me, and you can use these ideas to develop your own system.

Meeting people at networking functions is the easy part, since everyone is there for the same purpose; it’s staying in touch with them after that can be challenging. This is where many people get nervous, unsure what the boundaries are and how to be assertive without being a pain in the neck.

The initial contact. After I categorize my new contacts into Contact Sphere, Joint Venture, Friendly Competition, and Potential Clients, I take the time to follow up with everyone via e-mail within one week. I have a form e-mail that I’ve created specifically for this, with blank fields I can fill in with personalized details. I’ll mention where and when I met the person, recall details of our conversation, and remind them of who I am.

In this e-mail, I clearly invite the person to sign up for my newsletter, connect with me on LinkedIn, or respond via e-mail (or all three). Some people take the liberty of adding new contacts to their e-mail lists right away; often, they’ll send the new contact an e-mail with a note explaining that “I’ve added you to my newsletter/mailing list/blog, but I won’t be offended if you unsubscribe.”

Getting to know you. Once you have a reply, you might consider scheduling a phone call or face-to-face meeting with your new contact to chat about possibilities for this connection. Or, you might simply connect with them on LinkedIn. However, before you take the easy way out, remember that people are 10 times more likely to remember a face-to-face conversation than they are a virtual one, and 5 times more likely to remember a phone conversation than an e-mail. In other words, it’s not just connecting, but how you connect that matters.

When I meet someone face to face for coffee or lunch, I always take the time to send a handwritten thank you note I had made with my logo on it.

Connect on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great resource because it allows to you see, at a glance, your new connection’s contact sphere. If there’s someone in that sphere who you think would be helpful to you, you can ask your new contact for an introduction. Now that we’re doing things virtually, asking for this favor isn’t as much of an imposition as it once was. However, I’ve had more success calling the contact first and ask them how well they know the contact and let them know you will be sending an introduction request via linkedin. If you are doing this and you are not getting responses, it’s either because your contact doesn’t know the person well enough to refer you, or your contact is not really active on linkedin. Or people are just plain busy and it’s not a priority, don’t take it personal, it’s not about you. Pick up the phone and follow up. I believe it was Jeffrey Gitomer, who said 75% of sales happen after the 6th call.

Stay in touch. People have to see something 21 times before it sticks in their mind. This is why television advertising is so effective. The same principle applies here: the more times your new contact sees your name in print or on screen, the more likely they are to think of you when something in your field comes their way.

One question that often arises is that of persistence. How many times should you try to reach out to a contact before you give them up for lost? The answer is… It depends.

Networking doesn’t have to be hard work, make if fun. Out of ten people I reached out to last week, only one replied directly to me via e-mail. I followed up with the group again and ended up meeting four others in person, which led to three more introductions.

As a recruiter, I pursued Fidelity Investments for a year and a half before I won the contract able to place my people in their in-house advertising department. They kept having turnover and everytime I had a new contact, three months later, someone else was in charge. I ended up placing their highest-paid Creative Director at the time. A few years later, my contact who use to work at Fidelity, searched my name on line and called me looking for help and complimenting on what I did job I did back then.

How many times you follow up is a matter of personal choice. I usually send two or three e-mails and/or phone calls to potential contacts after I meet them. If I don’t hear something from them — an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, an e-mail, a note on Facebook — I tear up their business card. After all, there’s persistence, and then there’s wasting your time.

If you need help sorting through the networking process, feel free to give me a call. After all, I’ve been there. You might even drop me into your contact sphere!
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