“Here’s a list of people you should be having lunch with. I want you to run into people – go through old year books.”
This quote is from Herman “Duck” Philips, the new head account executive at the Sterling Cooper advertising firm. If you have never heard of Duck – as he goes by – it’s because he’s a fictional character on Season 1 of the emmy-award winning show Mad Men.
You might not be sipping brandy at 11am or smoking 2 packs a day but if you are a business owner than you DO have one thing in common with Duck; retaining clients for your company. These 2 simple action items were inspired by Duck, modified by me, and given to you as a guide to attracting and signing more business in the new year.
1. Eat Your Lunch List
Create a list of people you should be building new relationships with and make it a habit of going to lunch with at least 2 of these people every week. Consider including:
• CEOs and top executives in industries where you or your services add value
• Local Chamber of Commerce Members
• College buddies
• Relatives
*This list can AND should be partly comprised of people whom you already know.
Remember, these people may not need your services, but they definitely know people and companies who do. I often have lunch with relatives and past work colleagues to update them about how my team at Infinite Communications is making money for people via Internet marketing. More often than not, my lunch partners are refreshed by my good news, and ready to pass it along to their connections. My goal is for these good people to become evangelists for my brand and refer our company services to people and circles I would have difficulty reaching without them.
I find 100% of the time, that people like helping people they like. For more insights on lunch-based relationship building, I highly recommend Keith Ferrazzi best-selling book “Never Eat Alone.”
2. Connect Via Old-Yearbooks / Facebook
Great news! You don’t have to be making cold-calls all day or forcing yourself to attend networking events every night of the week in order to develop new clientele. People want to do business with people they like and trust, so reaching out to past friends and classmates will place you a step ahead of any stranger. You probably don’t carry an old year book with you, but chances are you do have a Facebook account.
Why not use your Facebook time to reach out to past classmates and see if you could meet for coffee or maybe just start a conversation thread via email? Among the thousands of friends you can connect with, many could be your next client or a valued referral source. As a matter of fact, our company’s first client was a elementary school friend of our CMO, Parham Nabatian. Parham kept in touch and “pinged” the friend often, even after we all graduated until the classmate “graduated” into being our client.
Wondering what to say? How about a startling statistic or a quick success story. For more on creating your own great conversation/update opening, I highly recommend Nance Rosen’s best-seller, “Speak Up! & Succeed.”
Now that New Year is under way, determine who you can connect or re-connect with that might be in need of your services?
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Mad Men is a great reminder of business development principles and how business still gets done today—through relationships and taking advantage of the available social media (they used the local bar, we use the Internet).
I agree – making connections is definitely a great (and essential) way to expand your network. I have experienced that many of my most valuable opportunities in terms of furthering my process and career have been through people I have reached out to, even if it was initially a little out of my comfort zone. Whether it’s to seek advice, learn about something, or or see what opportunities may be out there, making connections with as many people as possible (and making a favorable impression!) certainly proves to be rewarding in more ways than one.