There are lots of rules to getting the best out of networking. Mike Stokes book Positive Networking should be every newbies guide. But for me, the number one, is to get a follow-up one2one. The chances are high that you are not going to sell anything in the meeting. Your best chance is to have a one2one shortly after the meeting. Mike is probably laughing at me now! It took me ages to get to get this. Why? Because I used to fix computers, people will always ring the person they remember when their laptop won’t start up or their data disappears. For bespoke software, I have to follow the rules!
But most CRM’s, including Candid CRM, do not have a feature to monitor one-2-ones. Somewhere that the user can state they have have had a one-2-one.
Candid CRM has a last contacted time, but you have to add a note that is a contact type such as email, phone, text etc.
What I want to do is to go to a meeting, add everyone to Candid CRM, preferably by scanning business cards, and then later, go through each contact and follow up. Once I have had a one-2one I want to mark the contact as having a “One-2-one” or “Not Now”.
“Not Now” may seem alien from what I have just said. But their will be people at a networking event that you don’t gel with, are not in your area, or could just be a member of the networking event team. Yes, you should email to say that it was good to meet and that you enjoyed the event. But, you won’t be having a one-2-one, not now anyway!
So, Candid CRM is going to have a one-2-one in the main menu, this will list all contacts that have not been marked as “One-2-One” or “Not Now”. The user will then be able to click a button that will ask for details, a note or reminder. “One-2-One” will ask for a date, but there is no reason for “Not Now” as the current date will be sufficient.
Using this information, I will be able to produce reports and/or charts of contacts that have, or due to have a one-2-one. These reports will make interesting reading when checked against sales and referrals, this alone should prove that one2one’s are worthwhile.