In last week’s article, we tackled the question of the skills needed in order to go to networking events and get business cards and, more importantly, the permission to contact the person that the card implies. This week we turn to the questions of following up and cultivating the contact – the real networking – and supporting people through the medium-to-long term process needed before work starts to flow.
First, because motivation is such an important factor, it is useful to reaffirm the competitive edge that comes out of having effective business relationships. Figure 1 is taken from the work of Alan Weiss on the marketing of consultancy services. We have used this model successfully in legal firms to make the competitive value of relationships clear.
