You’ve met a great lead at a local ASIS meeting on Tuesday evening. You leave the meeting knowing that you’ll be following up with this person, but when? Conventional wisdom tells us that we should follow-up on Wednesday. After all, we’re supposed to follow-up with everyone within 24 hours, right? Well, conventional wisdom never had a quota.
Unlike following up with an incoming lead or customer call, you should wait two days to connect with a lead that you meet at a networking event (or any other random place for that matter). If you call them within 24 hours, you don’t give them much of an opportunity to call you. You never know, they may need your services more urgently than they portrayed when meeting you, and may intend on calling you. If you’ve been in sales for more than a week, you know the vast difference in the dynamics of a relationship when the prospect calls you vs. you chasing down the prospect. Give them some space – see if they call you first.
If you don’t hear from your new friend you met on Tuesday night, give them a call or email on Thursday. You’ll still appear just as professional, but won’t take away their opportunity to call you first.
