In order to grow your business you need to network, even if you don’t like it. It is imperative to attend networking events on a regular basis.

You made the effort to attend the event, you spoke with people, and you got their business cards, now what? Don’t make the all too common mistake of putting the business cards on a shelf or in a shoe box and forgetting about them, or waiting so long you get overwhelmed. Enter those contacts into your database right away!

You should have an automated follow-up system to make initial contact and keep in touch with your target market. Do you have one in place or do you need to reinvent the wheel every time you get a bucket of cards?

When you meet people at a networking event you should always leave them with a call to action. The best ones I’ve found are encouraging them to go to my website, to sign-up for my newsletter and get my free report. But you must offer an incentive for them to sign-up –they need to see the “What’s in it for me” factor.

Your free report could be one or two pages providing them with valuable information on how you can help them. For example, let’s say you are a web designer, your free report could be “The Top 10 Secrets to Increase Your Google Presence” or if you are a copywriter your free report could be “Discover the 10 Best Kept Secrets Most Copywriters Don’t Want You to Know to write a killer copy.”

As soon as people are on your list you will have multiple opportunities to communicate with them to promote your products or services. I don’t care which industry you are in, this principle will work for you. Your contacts need to know you, like you and trust you before they buy your products or services.
Communicating on a regular basis is the best way to earn their trust, especially if you don’t get the chance to meet one-on-one regularly.

How do you build your list?

When people go to your website in order to get your free report, they will have to give their name and email address; you have no excuse not to proactively contact your subscribers. For every person that signs up for your newsletter you have one person in your target market with the potential of becoming a client. People not interested in your products won’t give you their email addresses.

In order to communicate on a regular basis, you will need an auto-responder. If you have the kind of contact list I have, it is not humanly possible to send out individual messages every day, twice a week, once a week, once a month, whatever regularity you want. Your auto-responder will allow you to set up all of your messages automatically, eliminating the need to do it manually. The purpose of automating your system is to send emails, flyers, invites now and for years to come. As you will put your series of messages campaign on auto-pilot, you won’t have to think about it anymore. Your follow-up system will roll without you even when you sleep!

People on your list should receive emails from you at a periodicity you decide, this for ever unless they unsubscribe.
　
Do you want to learn how to built your list and turn all your contacts into paying clients? Download my free audio “Networking Made Easy” at www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com