Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

189 Networking: The New Conversation
allow you to find contact details with a minimum of fuss. It 
should also be easy to review and adjust. If you can align your 
system to other systems you use for personal details – your 
personal organiser, your e-mail archives – so much the better.
Re-connecting with people
Having the contacts is of little use if you don’t use them. There 
are lots of ways of re-connecting to people you have met.
Follow up fast. 
Send an e-mail within 24 hours. This is 
common courtesy and also establishes you on their e-mail 
system. Make the e-mail personal; no round robins and no 
copying in.
Include a gift.
Pick up on the conversation you were holding 
and offer anything that you think might be of interest. Typically, 
this will be more information: documents (brochures, 
e-newsletters), links, or contact details for other people.
Invite them to make contact. 
It might be lunch; or a phone 
call; or another event where you could meet on neutral ground.
Avoid fatigue and annoyance.
If someone doesn’t reply, 
manage future contacts with care. Plan further ‘nudges’ over a 
period of weeks or months.
Asking for help
A very good way to re-connect is to ask for help. If there is 
something that the contact can do to assist you, invite them to 
offer it. It’s flattering to be asked to give something. Make sure 
that you balance your requests with regular offers. (See the notes 
on the ‘Netbank’, below.)
‘Joining the dots’
One of the most valuable gifts we can offer in business is contacts 
with other people. Generosity tends to beget generosity.
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

---

190 Improve your Communication Skills
The general rule is to be carefully generous. Offer safe contact 
details: an e-mail address should be sufficient. If you’re 
uncertain, check with the third person that they are happy to 
have their details passed on.