Connect. Cultivate. Succeed!

The WORK of networking begins the day after your initial conversation. 80% of building and maintaining a relationship is simply staying in touch.

PINGing is the persistent art of remaining connected and in touch with your contacts.  A proactive approach to cultivating relationships, making the effort to maintain lines of communication and most importantly staying on someone’s radar screen. A phone call, a short email or morning coffee – each of these offers an opportunity to deliver interaction with your network.

In order to cultivate a relationship people must see/hear your name a minimum of three times and ideally in more than one mode of communication (email, phone &  face to face) before any meaningful recall/recognition occurs.  Vary your methods of PINGing with each person to reach them in different ways.

Once you have gained some early recognition, nurture a developing relationship with a phone call or email at least every quarter if not more often.   Early on, strive to offer resources during your PINGs – an article, a new contact, a business lead – anything that will reinforce your efforts to help.  Over time you can reach out simply to touch base and say hello without a specific reason for the contact.

To pursue a deeper connection, such as transforming a contact into a friend, you need a minimum of two face to face meetings outside the work environment within the initial 3-4 month period.  Consistent PINGing or dialogue via email/phone (once per month) will illustrate your sincere interest in them as a person and should accelerate the “trust” and “like” qualities that must emerge.  Any more frequent contact early on may quickly get you labeled as a stalker or desperate.

Maintaining a secondary relationship requires two to three pings a year, simply to say hello and catch up. Calling while in an airport, during your daily commutes, waiting on a meeting or emailing late at night before going to bed, there is no prescribed best method nor time to PING, it’s simply the action and consistency of putting yourself out there as the relationship catalyst.

You must set aside the time and seize opportunities to PING.  Harness the power of PINGing and you will experience a dramatic improvement not only in your ability to manage connection, but to transform a rolodex into a true network of relationships.