Let me know if this sounds at all familiar: You go to a networking event. You have a great time. You meet a number of interesting and potentially beneficial people. You promise to call or email in order to set up a meeting with them.
And you never see them again.
And the reason for that is that you never remembered to contact them, or you lost their card, or they never responded to you — maybe your email ended up in their spam folder?
How much better would it have been if, at the height of your conversation, when you are both feeling excited about continuing your potential relationship, you simply pulled out your calendars and scheduled a meeting for the future.
One the rules of effective networking is always to be ready with your networking tools. Missing out on extending your network is like throwing your money away.
So get a scheduling mechanism, whether it’s your day planner, your PDA, smart phone, or the wall calendar your insurance agent sent you. Figure out how to use it, if necessary, and always carry it with you.
So, what system do you use to schedule you networking?
