I was reminded of a blog post I wrote back in 2011 titled The Art of the Follow-up. That is an excellent (short) post with some great thoughts.
As I travel around the country I teach people that a big part of networking is “nurturing relationships.” Too many people network by:
- meeting someone,
- recording their information or storing their business card, and
- feeling overwhelmed that their network is getting bigger.
- … maybe they will ask for a lunch meeting, which never happens.
Networking is hard.
Nurturing relationships is harder. It means we need to strategically, purposefully and consistently work on something more than just storing information about the person.
There are a lot of posts online about how to follow-up. Here’s one from lifehacker: How to Follow Up on a Job Interview (Without Being Annoying)
You can read all about tactics on how and when and what to say.
Here’s my tip: JUST DO IT
Email the person. Keep it very short and concise, not desperate but professional.
Call the person. This is scarier, but there’s something about a real phone call. Call after hours if you are chicken, and leave a purposeful voice mail.
Send a snail-mail card. This is different and it might help you stay top-of-mind for the person you are following up with.
Go to their office. This is kind of weird, but if you go with a purpose (to hand deliver something?) then it is less weird.
Look, you can sit around and fret about should I do this? Have I waited enough time? Or you can do it.
I guarantee your competition is doing it. Don’t get left in the dust because you are too shy or scared to write an email.