As you meet new contacts, it will take less time to monitor and categorize where they fit into your network. If you categorize contacts automatically when you get a new business card and keep up to date with inputting data, this process will happen very quickly and smoothly. Add a “category” tab to your electronic database so contacts can be easily sorted and managed according to your categories.
The Importance of Categorizing Contacts
You can't push a marshmallow into a piggy bank. No matter how hard you try, an unmelted marshmallow just won't squish through the slot.
Trying to push a general contact into the target-market category before he is a qualified prospect will generate the same frustration for both of you. So will asking a general contact to send you a referral before trust has been established or a business relationship has been developed between the two of you.
Recognizing where people fit in the grand scheme of your profitable network will keep you from jumping the gun and taking the wrong approach to building relationships. In the future, connectors are likely to become clients or they may send referrals to you, but establishing this comfort level and mutual trust takes time.
Get From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
