Neglecting Old Relationships is Wasting Time and Money
How many times have old relationships passed you by? How many perfectly good peer or client contacts been allowed to “expire” through neglect as you say to yourself, “I just don’t have time?” and chase only the hot targets, or self-consciously think, “I have nothing to call about.”
Did you realize that in allowing relationships to age and die, you are quite literally throwing away your marketing efforts and money, and creating more difficult, more expensive marketing work for the months and years ahead?
It seems that in our busy “get it now” society, many people have lost sight of the power of a well-maintained network of long-term client and industry relationships with not just potential “buyers” but also potential “referrers” or “influencers.”
One of my recent workshop attendees emailed me this week full of excitement. “I have spent my week chasing old clients and industry contacts, and so far, out of a few coffees and conversations I have seeded two solid, warm leads,” he said with glee. These were people he had started to let slip through his fingers, people with whom he was no longer “front of mind.” But a little honest, caring relationship management went a long way for him… Can it do so for you?
It is not rocket science. Good relationships, on both an individual and a corporate level hold an immense power in almost any size of town or city as most professional services purchases are made based on trust. And the best and fastest traveling forms of trust are built on referrals.
When someone refers you or your company, they pass on the trust and belief that they have in you to the new contact. They allow you to enter your relationship with the new person at a level of trust comparable to that of the referrer, and most of the time, that is a lot closer to the point of conversion than you would start on your own steam.
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