The Post Event Event
Helping other professionals learn to sell gives me the opportunity to hear good ideas for developing business. Most of these ideas are simple adaptations of well-known techniques. Simplicity is a good thing for busy professionals, and there are no extra points for creativity. Any technique that is ethical and that works and that is affordable is worth considering.
I heard of one such idea today from an accountant and rainmaker who works for a litigation support firm. I call it the Post-Event Event, and he said I could share it with you. It is a way to increase the benefits of attending a professional association meeting. These events are good places to meet many potential clients and other worthwhile contacts rapidly, without having to get past a gatekeeper. But working the room to meet people will be wasted unless you follow up with them later and so initiate a relationship. There’s the rub; it isn’t always easy to come up with a plausible reason for maintaining contact. That’s where the Post-Event Event comes in.
Say, for example, that you are from Chicago attending an annual meeting of a professional association being held in San Antonio. Reviewing the list of expected attendees, you identify 14 people from the Chicago area that you want to meet. You plan a dinner in Chicago with some educational content for roughly one month after the association meeting. When you meet with one of your targets and the conversation goes well, you invite him or her to the dinner, saying that a written invitation will follow. If the initial conversation is cooler and you feel that an immediate invitation would be too forward, you send it in writing after the association meeting.
If you see someone two or three times in a few months at an association meeting and then break bread with him for several hours a month later, your relationship is well underway. Of course, the Post-Event Event could be a golf outing or seats at a baseball game.
Cool idea. Simple and effective.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Your title is a perfect way to explain the importance of follow-up! Many professionals must be reminded how critical it is to success, and keeping that reminder simple is essential to getting this message heard.
Professionals are busy, so straightforward and practical advice is necessary. I can truly say that this approach is a main reason our marketing staff is trusted as advisors for a firm of technical-minded professionals.
September 29th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I would go so far as to say that if they don’t plan to follow up, they shouldn’t go to the event in the first place. It would be like buying a sailboat when you won’t go near the water. It’s a waste.
Your comments show that you have worked with professionals
P.S. I like the way your site looks.