What to Do When You Get a Business Card

When you get the person's card, stop and read it. Take a moment. Notice the person's title and comment on it. If it's clever or unusual in any way, make a point of it. Some people spend hours designing their business cards and will appreciate it if you notice. Check if it lists the person's cell phone number; you may need it one day. Make certain you get the person's Web site URL and e-mail address if they are not on the card.

Now, turn the card over and write today's date on the back, where you were at the moment, and what you talked about with the person. Make sure to note any follow-up promises you made. This is flattering to the person who gave you the card, because you've made the receipt of the card an event. You took time to put your thoughts on it.

You must write this information down, because I assure you, you'll have completely forgotten it by the time you return to the office.

Step Two

Either you or your assistant must immediately enter the information into your Outlook Contacts list. The most important part is the Notes box: type in what you wrote down on the card. In the future you will be adding information in this box as you learn the contact's family names, favorite interests, dislikes and avocations.

The reason the information must go into Outlook Contacts is because it is searchable and sortable. Unless you have a photographic memory, and I'm betting you don't, the person's name may escape you, but you'll remember the company where he worked or the event where you met. To find the person, all you need to do is enter key words into the 'Search Contacts' box and bingo: You've found her. This will be very important when you have thousands of contacts. If you keep cards in a desk drawer or a stack with a rubber band around it, you can't do a search like this.

Outlook will also let you sort your contacts. Suppose you are flying to New York and want to contact other people when you arrive. Simply type in 'New York' in the Search Contacts box and only those contacts will display on the screen. The same goes if you are searching for all your contacts at a particular company, or everyone you met at a particular event.

Whatever you do, don't rely on your memory for this information. In selling legal services, there is a very long decision-making process. Many times it has happened that I got a voicemail from 'Cindy' who didn't leave her last name, mentioning that we talked six months ago, and they're now ready to proceed with the project. Cindy forgot to leave her phone number and Caller ID didn't capture it. If I were relying on my memory, I'd come up blank. But instead I go into contacts and search every 'Cindy' I've met or type in keywords about the project and I instantly find her. Now I can phone her back and pick up where we left off, as if it were yesterday.

Step Three

Now that you recorded the contact, your job is to beef up the information about the person. Your goal is to develop a relationship, and you need data to do this. The reason rainmakers are successful is that they have more relationships than other lawyers; new business comes in through relationships. The key to a successful business relationship is knowing a lot about the other person.

Among the key points you should find out are:

• Names of family members and the ages of their children. Record dates when babies are born, birthdates and dates when their relatives die. These are major events in the other person's life and you need to know about them.
• The person's interests. My favorite salesman learned that I liked to go on roller coaster rides with my son. Every time a new roller coaster opened, he sent me a note or e-mail about it. I just loved it. The point is, your business development success depends on adding a personal component to the business relationship. You can only do this if you know the other person's avocations, vacation destinations, books he reads, movies he likes, favorite dessert, you name it.
• Job changes or new degrees earned. Always write down the date a person got a new job and keep a record on where she worked before. Job changes are major events in a person's life. If a person got a certification or advanced degree, record that as well; this represents years of effort by the other person.
• Business 'trauma.' I saved this for last for emphasis. The key to getting new business is knowing what challenges a person's business faces and 'what keeps him up at night.' Make note of the person's career challenges, competitors who are troublesome to the company, setbacks and downturns in the industry, new products or services they're introducing, This is how you distinguish yourself as a lawyer. Not by your credentials or experience, but by demonstrating knowledge of the other person's business.

Step Four

If you haven't already, go to www.Linkedin.com and create a profile about yourself. It's free. Then immediately invite the other person to be in your network. This is especially important when you meet journalists, prospects and prominent individuals. Inviting a person into your network is as easy as clicking buttons on a Web site and it shows that you're hip, modern, and even tech-savvy. Your goal it to get 500 connections. I have 247 connections so far that link me to 2,287,400 other people.

If someone invites you to be in his/her LinkedIn network, accept it. Ignore invitations from Pulse, Facebook, MySpace or the other online social networks. Then learn how to use LinkedIn to get clients and make money. Visit the Web site (http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/content_display.jsp?top=8486&mid=76812) of Jill Konrath and click to download her 14-page eBook now ' it's all about increasing sales with LinkedIn.

In life, who you know is more important than what you know. And it all starts when someone puts a business card in your hand.

Larry Bodine is a business development adviser based in Glen Ellyn, IL. He helps law firms nationwide with technology, business development training and individual attorney coaching. He can be reached at 630-942-0977 and www.larrybodine.com.

I know where you keep your business cards. They're in little piles on your desk, buried under other papers, where you left them when you returned from a past conference or event. Otherwise, you've tossed them into a drawer where you expect you can find the right card when you need it.

You've created a junkyard of information ' a business development disaster. You need to realize that when you receive a person's business card, you've obtained a piece of gold:

• It can mark the beginning of a relationship that will bring you new clients and fees.
• It can be a valuable addition to your network of referral sources, who send you legal work from pre-screened clients.
• It can be the moment you meet someone you can introduce to another one of your contacts and create a mutually beneficial joint venture.

Don't treat a business card like a scrap of paper. Be intentional about your business development and be meticulous in your record-keeping. By the time you have 4,000 or 5,000 records in your contact list, you'll be sitting on a hilltop of gold.

Step One

When you get the person's card, stop and read it. Take a moment. Notice the person's title and comment on it. If it's clever or unusual in any way, make a point of it. Some people spend hours designing their business cards and will appreciate it if you notice. Check if it lists the person's cell phone number; you may need it one day. Make certain you get the person's Web site URL and e-mail address if they are not on the card.

Now, turn the card over and write today's date on the back, where you were at the moment, and what you talked about with the person. Make sure to note any follow-up promises you made. This is flattering to the person who gave you the card, because you've made the receipt of the card an event. You took time to put your thoughts on it.

You must write this information down, because I assure you, you'll have completely forgotten it by the time you return to the office.

Step Two

Either you or your assistant must immediately enter the information into your Outlook Contacts list. The most important part is the Notes box: type in what you wrote down on the card. In the future you will be adding information in this box as you learn the contact's family names, favorite interests, dislikes and avocations.

The reason the information must go into Outlook Contacts is because it is searchable and sortable. Unless you have a photographic memory, and I'm betting you don't, the person's name may escape you, but you'll remember the company where he worked or the event where you met. To find the person, all you need to do is enter key words into the 'Search Contacts' box and bingo: You've found her. This will be very important when you have thousands of contacts. If you keep cards in a desk drawer or a stack with a rubber band around it, you can't do a search like this.

Outlook will also let you sort your contacts. Suppose you are flying to New York and want to contact other people when you arrive. Simply type in 'New York' in the Search Contacts box and only those contacts will display on the screen. The same goes if you are searching for all your contacts at a particular company, or everyone you met at a particular event.

Whatever you do, don't rely on your memory for this information. In selling legal services, there is a very long decision-making process. Many times it has happened that I got a voicemail from 'Cindy' who didn't leave her last name, mentioning that we talked six months ago, and they're now ready to proceed with the project. Cindy forgot to leave her phone number and Caller ID didn't capture it. If I were relying on my memory, I'd come up blank. But instead I go into contacts and search every 'Cindy' I've met or type in keywords about the project and I instantly find her. Now I can phone her back and pick up where we left off, as if it were yesterday.

Step Three

Now that you recorded the contact, your job is to beef up the information about the person. Your goal is to develop a relationship, and you need data to do this. The reason rainmakers are successful is that they have more relationships than other lawyers; new business comes in through relationships. The key to a successful business relationship is knowing a lot about the other person.

Among the key points you should find out are:

• Names of family members and the ages of their children. Record dates when babies are born, birthdates and dates when their relatives die. These are major events in the other person's life and you need to know about them.
• The person's interests. My favorite salesman learned that I liked to go on roller coaster rides with my son. Every time a new roller coaster opened, he sent me a note or e-mail about it. I just loved it. The point is, your business development success depends on adding a personal component to the business relationship. You can only do this if you know the other person's avocations, vacation destinations, books he reads, movies he likes, favorite dessert, you name it.
• Job changes or new degrees earned. Always write down the date a person got a new job and keep a record on where she worked before. Job changes are major events in a person's life. If a person got a certification or advanced degree, record that as well; this represents years of effort by the other person.
• Business 'trauma.' I saved this for last for emphasis. The key to getting new business is knowing what challenges a person's business faces and 'what keeps him up at night.' Make note of the person's career challenges, competitors who are troublesome to the company, setbacks and downturns in the industry, new products or services they're introducing, This is how you distinguish yourself as a lawyer. Not by your credentials or experience, but by demonstrating knowledge of the other person's business.

Step Four

If you haven't already, go to www.Linkedin.com and create a profile about yourself. It's free. Then immediately invite the other person to be in your network. This is especially important when you meet journalists, prospects and prominent individuals. Inviting a person into your network is as easy as clicking buttons on a Web site and it shows that you're hip, modern, and even tech-savvy. Your goal it to get 500 connections. I have 247 connections so far that link me to 2,287,400 other people.

If someone invites you to be in his/her LinkedIn network, accept it. Ignore invitations from Pulse, Facebook, MySpace or the other online social networks. Then learn how to use LinkedIn to get clients and make money. Visit the Web site (http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/content_display.jsp?top=8486&mid=76812) of Jill Konrath and click to download her 14-page eBook now ' it's all about increasing sales with LinkedIn.

In life, who you know is more important than what you know. And it all starts when someone puts a business card in your hand.

Larry Bodine is a business development adviser based in Glen Ellyn, IL. He helps law firms nationwide with technology, business development training and individual attorney coaching. He can be reached at 630-942-0977 and www.larrybodine.com.