Focus on Your BEST Relationships

So you have your contact list with hundreds of names, and you sort it in ascending sequence of “Date last Modified”, and one by one you work through each name, phoning to say “Hi!”.

Don’t!

As each name comes up, ask yourself if it is one of your best relationships.

Now of course we need to define best.

What does “best” mean to you?

It will always involve a quantifier ( Management Measures ), so it might be “Produces more than 5% of my annual revenue” or “Brings in more than $10,000 a year” or “Brings me at least 3 good referrals every year”, and so on.

Focus on Those

What do we mean by “Focus”.

Sounds to me like it’s a phone call (not a voice mail) setting up a lunch date, “My Treat”, for this relationship deserves an hour away from the office. Doesn’t have to be The King Edward hotel; a good diner or burger joint is OK, if that’s your (plural) style.

And the Others?

• Stay in touch.
• Drop a voice-mail
• Write a post card (while in the train or on the plane)
• Mail a magazine article or newspaper clipping
• Email a link to a good story
• etc.

But keep it brief.

Your other consultants pals know that you are out there, and you aren’t getting much new business from those who serve well by stiffening your spine.

Acknowledge them and move on.

This was all brought home to me when I had reason to “blitz” all my contacts in Mississauga, and found that eight out of eighteen were consultants or other non-revenue contacts.

Check your contacts, city by city, and mark those that wrote you a cheque in the past two years.

That’s a good starting point for “Best”

Talk to Me !