After a week of travel, which was more like 3 weeks due to the preparation and focus on nothing but the end goal, it is like returning from a long journey. Amazingly, the voicemail was empty and there were no packages piled on my chair. Why? Because nearly everyone I work with on a regular basis was in the same place as I was, many of them at the same hotel. So it was like I was at a high school reunion, assuming that I was part of a class that took 20 years to graduate.
So here I am back in the saddle (squeaky office chair) with a full plate of communication tasks, aka, new business development.
1. Followup with people I saw last week. Last week, for those keeping score at home, was a medical convention. There are occasional threads in the business and marketing forum about the benefit of attending trade shows.
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/863662#863662
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/862223#862223
It depends upon the trade and the show.
2. Followup with people I did not see, but hoped to.
This is an important part of acquiring new business. That is, developing relationships with people, even and especially those people with whom you have not yet done business. Remind people you are there, out here in the ether. When they need you they'll remember you if you remember yourself to them periodically.
3. Contact people I neither saw nor planned to see but with whom I'd like to meet at some future date.
4. Followup on outstanding proposals.
Writing clear proposals, SOW's or contracts is a vital part of work for hire. If you are a vendor, get good at describing what you do, what you charge, and what they get for what you charge for what you do.
5. Send out new proposals.
See above.
6. Chat with co-workers about ongoing projects, shoots that happened while I was away and future projects and goals.
MBWA - Managing by walking around.
6a. Followup regarding ongoing milestone chasing (another future blog post right there).
7. Create some plans for new products, the ideas for which we gathered from customer requests during our big event. Free market research is a beautiful thing. Well maybe not free, given travel and exhibit costs, but gravy over an already generous helping of mashed potatoes.
Always be thinking of the next sliced loaf of bread.
8. Organize notes - that is - post-its and scrap paper - in a book labeled, cleverly, "The Book." More on this in a future post on getting shtuff done.
So while I say back in the saddle" one should always be IN the saddle, riding on the range, tending the flock helping other ranchers get their cattle to market. Rather than a six-shooter on my belt, a blackberry will have to do.
Giddy-up partner.
Thanks for riding.
Mike Cohen
