Making the connection is everything to grow your business and career, but it is nothing without follow-up. The problem is, many people don’t really know how to keep the connection going, and/or how to organize their contacts so that none of them falls through the cracks.

First, create a follow-up plan: How will you keep in touch for the next six months? What will you offer to your prospects, hot and cold? At which frequency will you get in touch with them? Write the answer to all those questions in a time line of the type:

Contact # Timeline Contact type Content

where “timeline” is the amount of time from first contact until present one, “contact type” the way of contact (phone, email, mail, etc.) and “content” the actual content of your contact. This allows you to have a plan for each and every contact you make, and avoid re-inventing the wheel each time. It also makes it easy, almost mechanical, to plan any individual contact.

The second step is to make sure that the follow-up contacts actually happen. From my experience with clients, I have seen only two systems really work: The tickler file and the contact management software.

The tickler file is made of a container, 4×5 or 5×6 index cards, 31 dividers labeled from 1 to 31 for the days of the month, and 12 dividers labeled by month. In front of the box are the current and remaining days of the month: Let’s say today is the 15th of October, so you’ll see dividers labeled 15 to 31 in front of you, followed by the month dividers November, December, January, etc. Each index card contains the contact information of a connection you made, along with the contacts made, and is moved through the system as you go.

Let’s say that you just sent an email to a contact, and will send them an email again in a week from now to make sure they have received the information. If today is the 15th of the month, your next contact is scheduled for the 22nd. You then place the card behind the divider marked “22”, and forget about it. On the 22nd of the month, you take all the cards behind the “22” divider and know exactly who you need to contact, and what for. Now, let’s say that, instead of October 22, the next contact should happen on November 22. In this case, you simply put the corresponding card behind the “November” divider. When November 1 rolls in, you take all the cards for November, and dispatch them through the days of the month. When you get to the 22nd, your card is waiting for you behind the “22” divider. This system is very low-tech, effective, and allows you to schedule contacts up to a year in advance. It can however take a lot of space, and some people are more comfortable with an electronic version.

Outlook can be enough to electronically accomplish this follow-up. However, dedicated contact management software such as ACT! or Goldmine will allow you more flexibility. In particular, you can set up contact series, so that you need to enter those only once, and the software will automatically schedule all of the contacts you have planned without any intervention on your part. They also allow you to enter more information, such as notes, tracking of opportunities, etc. In that sense, they are more powerful than both the tickler file and Outlook. They require some learning, but are worth the expense and effort. I personally use ACT! and it has transformed my ability to stay in touch with the people I meet.