Chocolate Blues Business Networking Festival August 2013 | Page 22

sweet business connections
www.BizFestival.com • Facebook.com/ChocolateBluesFans

NETWORKING
RESOURCE LINKS
Loveland Business Womens Network

www.facebook.com/LovelandBusinessWomensNetwork

Extraordinary Loveland
http://e-l-events.org/
Loveland Chamber of Commerce
www.loveland.org/events/
B.R.A.V.O
www.meetup.com/B-R-A-V-O/
BNI
www.bni.com/

71% of B2B marketers
consider in-person events
to be the most effective,
according to the 2013 B2B
Enterprise Marketing Report

Follow Up System
So you came, you saw, you conquered and now you have
hundreds of business cards! The networking is over,
right? NO!! Now for the one thing that will make you
money and make all of this worthwhile: The Follow Up.
There's a lot of ways you can follow up with people after
this event, do you have a game plan? You should! Here
are suggestions to help you get going:

Plan a group meeting a week or so after the event at a local coffee shop and invite 10 people you met
at Chocolate Blues to come and join you. Visit the Ice Breaker Table and utilize the follow up form that
accompanies this plan.

Create a follow up plan for contacts. Ideas such as: organizing
group meetings, connecting on social media, or send a thank you
note via email, snail mail, or through services like Send Out Cards

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Use the app Scan Biz Cards. This app for your phone and/or tablet will store your business card images,
read the card and organize the information in your address book, and more! My favorite part is the
instant "Connect on LinkedIn" option that sends them an email invitation to connect with you on the
social media site. You can also send a pre-formed introduction email to send instantly to your contact
upon scanning their card into your phone.
Plan for one day to park for hours at a coffee shop and schedule one-on-one meetings back to back.
Make sure you include all of your social media links and website in your email signature and invite your
email recipients to connect with you online at any of the links provided for their convenience in your email
signature.