I make a point of following up with people I meet at networking events within 24 hours.

The subject of the email is "exchanging coordinates" (that's what works for me), but the objective is to establish a permission-based relationship to continue the relationship outside of the event.

You know how people hand out cards and you know that not all of  them are sincere. No problem. This is just a way to separate the "wheat" from the "chaff."

I try to combine an authentic and personal touch with scalable/automated technology to gain the most efficiency/effectiveness from the process.

1. I've set up a basic Excel spreadsheet with the person's first name, email address, and a line for a personal note that ties back to our conversation (I just copied down in this example, but each one MUST be unique).

2. Next, I set up a Word document with a "Mail Merge" from the previous Excel file. My template looks like this:

«First_Name»,

 Great meeting you today.

«Note»
Just wanted to follow up and exchange coordinates digitally.

Drop me a response if you’d like to stay in touch.

Also, I’m on LinkedIn Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, and FriendFeed. (Pick your poison :-))

And my blog is Igniting the Revolution [RSS/subscribe by email]

Regards,

Jeremy

P.S. My first WOM/Social Media client is NYT-bestselling author, Dan Pink. I’m helping to drive sales of his new book via www.johnnybunko.com



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3. Everything in between the <<>> is being merged with the data from Excel, btw.

4. Then, I send via Outlook to each recipient individually

What this allows  the recipient to do is to choose if (and how)to connect with me. I like to "strike while the iron is hot," and solidify the connection. This process enables me to do that.