You have contacts. Great. The pressing questions is, what are you doing with them??? What good is it to look at your business card holder and smile that you have some FABulous contacts, yet you haven't reached out to any of them in such a long time. If I hit a nerve and you are guilty of this, sorry. But no worries, you can recover. You just have to reactivate your networking mode, dust off your rolodex and start reaching out to people ASAP. I know what you're thinking . . . I haven't talked to these people in X amount of time and they are probably going to wonder why am I reaching out now. Or they will be busy. Or I don't know what to say. Or I feel crazy cause it's literally been forever since I've talked to this person. Ok, ok, ok . . . this all may be true. But SO WHAT! If you learn anything from FAB, please take away this message - make NO excuse, stop thinking, just do it! With that said, forget your questions and stop wasting your time conjuring up negative thoughts and invest your energy into sending emails and making calls!
When you call/email, say . . .
- "........ would you like to have lunch sometime to catch up, it's been awhile ........"
- "........ I lost your card and just found it (whew!), I've been meaning to catch up with you, how are you doing, I'd love to chat sometime ............."
- ".......... I have some great new updates for you, I'd love to fill you in ..............."
- .......... I am sure your schedule is super crazy but you're really great at giving advice and I knew you'd be perfect to talk with .............."
- "......... is it okay for us to have lunch at your earliest convenience? ............. "
- "............ I am interested in volunteering, need any help these days. I'm totally interested! ........."
- ............ I am interested in switching industries and would like some direction - magazines, books, events, etc. Want to make sure I'm positioned correctly. Have anytime to catch up in the next week or so ........."
- "........ thank you so much for your email and follow up. You are truly knowledgeable and so easy to talk to. I'd also like to speak with you about being my mentor. I promise I won't bug you too much! :) ..............
- "........ I haven't heard from you in awhile and wanted to touch base. I have tickets to ________ and thought you'd be interested. Let me know if you'd like to go! ............"
Ok, you get the point! Find a reason to reach out and do it! Don't give away all the details in the first email. If your initial email sounds too pushy or needy, it will get pushed back. Just have this mindset - everyone is slammed, tired, overworked and under appreciated. If you go in with this mindset, you will be more sensitive as you reach out to people. Schedule time to have a conversation via in person or email BEFORE you go in with your wishlist!
Homework: Dust off your ROLODEX and FIRE OFF those emails NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 comment:
Question. I got a business card of a colorist in my area (chicago) I have been holding it for a while because I dont know how to introduce myself and ask if he can mentor me or if I can be his assistant. We have not met in person, i was given his card by someone who knows I'm new to the hair industry. It has the salon number and his cell number.
What should I do?
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