Rainmaking Problem #22: How often should you call?
I frequently get asked how often one should call a former client or other valuable business contact. Professionals are deeply concerned that calling too often will annoy the contact. Some err on the side of caution by not calling contacts at all, except they need to talk about specific business at hand. Others call more frequently.
Like most people, professionals have contacts whom they can call at any time. However, virtually all of us want to avoid bothering a busy client or contact with a drifting catchup conversation. Some contacts are likely to drop you, if you abuse the friendship with too many pointless calls or calls transparently for the purpose of asking for more work.
How frequently to call someone is a highly personal decision, and heavily situational. Still, I think that most of us have some rules we apply to making that choice. What are yours?
(This is another of our Rainmaking Problems, which I post from time to time, because I am not totally satisfied with the answers I give, when questioned on the subject. In other cases, readers send me questions that they would like to get answers to from people with different perspectives. If you have such a question, please send it to me at fharding@HardingCo.com.)
September 30th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Ford,
I usually reply with two answers to this question:
1) As frequently as your communications are valuable.
2) More often than your gut feel says.
In the case of (1) it’s important to remember that both the message you follow-up with, and the medium you use affect the possibilities for frequency.
If you’re calling with some useful information, interesting news, or a valuable offer for them - then you can call pretty much as frequently as you want.
Clearly, the smart Rainmaker won’t treat this passively and wait for useful information, news or valuable offers to drop in their lap. They will create them - and so create the opportunity to follow-up. Not only can you hunt out useful information and news - but you can get pretty creative with rejigging and tailoring your services to create something interesting and fresh that people would be interested in hearing about.
The medium allows interesting possibilities too. By varying the medium you can increase frequency without it seeming too much. And some media allow for lighter, more frequent touches.
For example, phoning up or emailing all my contacts to tell them I’ve just run a business development training course that got great feedback would feel rather strange and pushy to them. But pop it in my Linkedin status update which many of them will notice when they log on to the site or get their weekly digest, and the message gently gets across (I’ve had a number of clients/partners contact me because of something they’ve seen in a Linkedin status update).
(2) is a little light-hearted, but I’ve found it to be true. To stereotype a tad, your typical car or double-glazing salesman’s gut feel of how frequently to contact is probably set way too high for most of us on the receiving end. But the professional’s is often set way too low. It’s in our nature to be conservative, to not want to come across as salesy or pushy. So we err on the side of too infrequent.
Ian
October 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Ian
Good points as usual. Sometimes you don’t know how to bring value to someone until you talk with them. You have to have confidence that you can provide value in real time exchanges often enough that your calls will be valued. It’s hard to help someone if you don’t know what is going on in their lives and you find that out by talking with them.
Ford Harding
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Ford,
I call clients whenever I find a shred of a reason to call, but that isn’t all that often.
I’ve had great success in just stopping by client’s offices for five minutes to say hi whenever I am out and about. Being in the area seems to be a valid reason to stop by. My clients have all seemed genuinely happy to take five minutes out of their day for me. In this down economy, most people seem to be less busy though. It also works because my practice is primarily local.
Mike Spack
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I find myself sending emails (always personal, directed emails, not group blasts) whenever I come across something that I think might be of interest. I feel more comfortable doing this than calling out of the blue, and happily, these emails often result in some back & forth communication that then translates into a phone call. Most have not (yet) led to new business, but a couple have, and in all cases it keeps the line of communication open.
I do have a couple of former clients from whom I’ve never heard back (going on two years of occasional, pithy emails) - if those efforts had been calls, i’d be discouraged; instead, who knows, maybe they’re reading them and will reach out one day?
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
Mike
Drop-in meetings can be very effective.
David
Like others, I have called people once or twice a year for up to 7 years and left brief messages, and then had them call with an opportunity. Maybe they would listen to your voicemail messages, too–or even return your call. I’m not against emails, but I sense you might benefit from a richer mix of calls.
Ford Harding