Organizing and cultivating your contacts via Outlook and more
If you get a chance, pick up the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi. It’s one of the best business books I’ve read in the past year – and trust me, I’ve read a lot of them.
The subtitle of the book says it all: “And other secrets to success, one relationship at a time.” Ferrazzi, founder and CEO of marketing and sales consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, contends that you have to create your own ecosystem of colleagues, contacts, friends and mentors. He stresses that this ecosystem needs to be constantly cultivated – much like tending a garden. You have to plant new contacts and weed out the old ones. The only way to keep your virtual Rolodex fresh is to know where people are in their lives and careers at all times.
The thing that really struck me about the book – and it’s something I preach, as well – is that technology is your best friend in this endeavor. Ferrazzi, a fellow BlackBerry user, seems to be a master at maintaining a database of important and useful information about casual contacts, business partners and lifelong friends.
In fact, Ferrazzi breaks his contacts down into myriad categories, including by region and familiarity. For instance, if he is headed to a city for a business meeting, he downloads his contact list for that area and calls people to let them know he’ll be in town. This is a great opportunity, he says, to re-up his contacts so they stay fresh. Being in their neck of the woods is a terrific excuse to give them a call and talk business.
He also divides his contacts into categories according to how well he knows them or, more importantly, how often he should ping them. Some he sends notes on personal occasions such as birthdays; others he just gets in touch with once a year to see how things are going.
He uses a contact database such as Microsoft Outlook to store all this information and says it’s important to gather tidbits about people into a centralized location. He has multiple call and e-mail lists at the ready that he runs down each day – making sure to network as much as possible.
What amazes me about Ferrazzi is the effort he puts into using technology to efficiently connect with people. He doesn’t waste time trying to recall where he left a person’s business card and why he knows them. If he meets someone he knows he’ll want to contact again, that person’s data goes straight into his “networking” system. Ferrazzi isn’t that person you see snapping his fingers trying to remember who the executive was that he met at a party who could help him seal a critical business deal. Simple organization has made him a master at the networking game.
Ferrazzi says he relies on both phone and e-mail because he’s sensitive that some people respond better to one mode vs. the other. He easily flits between the two – leaving voice mail and e-mail messages where appropriate. He notes in his contact files which method the person prefers and what times are best to reach them.
For home-based business owners, making and keeping contacts is the key to success. This book is a must-read as Ferrazzi’s tips are priceless and will help improve your ability to build and maintain a network of peers and business partners.
