The Hard-To-Touch Contact

We all have them.

They sit in our little database and we dare not pick up the phone because

1. We have nothing to chat about
2. We haven’t chatted for such a long time
3. We don’t have a clue what their current problem is.

Of course, I see nothing wrong with picking up the phone and voicing those three concerns directly; sometimes a quick “Thinking of you” is all that is needed.

But take a look at this picture:


My hoarding instincts serve me well. You are looking at a collection of magazines, brochures, generally collected by the armful at trade shows, but also scooped up from the laundry room.

Each journal is opened to the Contents page (ah HAH!) so that any hard-to-reach contact can be satisfied with a page carefully cut out of a free journal.

As the collection grows in variety, chances are strong that that awkward contact can be satisfied with a page, and envelope, a 50-cent stamp, and if nothing else, I can call next week and ask how they liked the article.