Sugar, caffeine and post-conference high's: 5 ways I'm following up after bizjam (and one thing I won't do)

I'm still wound up. The ideas were zinging. The air was crackling. We were caffeine- and Wi-Fi -hyped, bouncing off the walls with creative energy, like six-year-olds who had too much Halloween candy.

Now I'm back in the office and I'm supposed to shut up, pay attention and get back to my grown-up work.

Ah. The BizJam post-conference high. I have often wondered if someone couldn't just package all that excitement and deliver it in nice little doses over the next six months.

When I first get home, I'm giddy with all the possibilities. The what-ifs. The isn't-this-a-cool-idea and never-thought-about-that-one.

What do I do? Well, first I pick up Nuz, my 15-pound, odd-eyed Turkish Van cat, who jumps out of my arms and marches off, nose in the air. He's all offended because I dared to leave him alone for two days.

Then there's the mail. I sort through, tossing all the grocery ads and "You've been selected!" invitations from VISA.

Life gets in the way. There's a suitcase to unpack, a litter box to clean, laundry to do, e-mails to answer.

I made a promise to myself that this time I would do it right. Well, it's a week now and I still haven't done everything, but I'm working my list. Here it is:

1. Re-connect with attendees and presenters. I send e-mails to attendees I want to stay in touch with, briefly saying who I am again, something specific about our conversation and one thought on how we might work together (that's called a call to action); to thank people for stopping by our booth; and to connect with presenters whose sessions were particularly helpful. I mail hand-written notes to people who I connected with on a deeper level, who are potential new partners for cross-promotions. Nothing, I mean nothing, gets noticed more than a hand-written note. My friend, marketing mentor and networking guru Ilise Benun, in her BizJam session "How Not To Network," talked about the incredible impact a hand-written note can have.

2. Work my business cards. I put the names and contact info of people I met into my networking database with a brief note to remind myself of the nature of the connection.

3. Connect friends and colleagues with each other. I look at my new connections, as well as the reconnects, to see who might benefit from getting to know each other better. Then it's just simple e-mail to one, telling them I'd like to introduce them to the other, and why.

4. Blog and comment on other blogs. I'm getting pretty good at this, but it's a must-do after a conference. There are golden opportunities to give "love links" (connections to another attendee's blog in your blog posts), which helps both you and them. Biznik, the producers of BizJam, make this easy because they include links to other bizniks' blogs on their profile pages.

5. Keep my promises. All of them. And I'm not just talking biz-related promises, either. I'm sending links to marketing resources, but also a list of my favorite books to someone who is looking for books to relax with on a cruise and loves memoirs as much as I do.

6. What I won't do? I will not add someone to our weekly marketing e-tip list just because I collected their business card and e-mail address. I am amazed at the number of people who break this cardinal rule of e-mail marketing. Your e-mail will be spam unless it is permission-based. That means someone needs to have asked for it. I send a "glad I met you" e-mail and put a link to our e-tip at the bottom, but unless they go there and sign up, they won't receive an issue, not even one.

That's my list: 5 do's and one don't. I'm curious. What ways do you have of following up after a conference?

Comments

[Jen Vondenbrink]

Judy - great follow up steps. I especially like the handwritten notes to those people who you connected with at a deeper level. I love to send notes to clients, people I meet at networking events and well friends and family. You are right about there is nothing like the hand written note. As a matter of fact that I what I am doing this morning, sending notes to a staff of people who were extremely helpful to me yesterday.

Your one don't is something that I just recently adopted. At first I was sending emails/newsletters to anyone whom I met. After a while, I felt I wasn't really meeting their needs. I wasn't getting feedback from them and luckily wasn't spammed. Now I have a permission based list. Although it cut down my contact dramatically, I know it will rebound as I move forward.

Glad BizJam was so productive!

[Judy Dunn]

Good thinking, Jen. There is certainly nothing wrong with sending an e-mail inviting someone to join your list. In fact, we frequently do this with good results when we include a sign-up link with the message.

But the marketers who turn me off are the ones that just lift your e-mail address from your business card and just assume you'll be happy to get their newsletter. It's happened to me more times than I can count.

Thanks for commenting, Jen!

[Ilise Benun]

Judy, I love the specificity of this and will link to it from our blog so others can follow your example.

I'm finishing up my follow up too. My priority was to build on the momentum of that excitement you described so well and to get in touch with the people who seemed most interested in talking further.

And thanks for the mention and link to http://www.marketing-mentor.com. It was great to meet you too and we look forward to partnering to help this small business market.

[Judy Dunn]

Thanks, Ilise. Life often gets in the way of "following up," but the rewards can be rich.

I'm so glad I finally got to meet you, too!

[Stacy Karacostas]

Great article Judy! It's always good to remind people that just showing up is never enough. It's always hard to stay motivated once reality hits.

Plus, I LOVE that you call people out for spamming their newsletters!! This drives me nuts, and isn't good for their own business.

The last thing anyone wants is more email they didn't ask for. And just because someone gave you their business card does not mean they want your newsletter.

If you're chomping at the bit to get people on your list, do what my friend Nancy Gerber does...Ask on the spot if they'd like to receive your newsletter, then make a note on their card and add them to your database.

Permission is a wonderful thing! :-)

Best,
Stacy

[Judy Dunn]

Thanks for commenting, Stacy, and for stopping by our sponsor's table at BizJam. It was great to finally meet you after communicating by phone and email for several months.

It's true, we are being slammed with so much unwanted e-mail these days that uninvited newsletters are just so bothersome. (Many of the articles I see on the wonderful benefits of email marketing unfortunately ignore the critically important opt-in issue.)