I have written before about the importance of meeting people for coffee to improve your networking efforts. I always follow up with a Thank You email and invitation to connect via LinkedIn.
I have been guilty in the past of not recording any notes from my coffee meetings which is a big mistake on my part. Do you take notes and refer to them later?
I recently started using my iPhone to record audio notes after each meeting. I limit my notes to no more than 5 minutes tops. I use the iTalk app, but the Voice Recorder or Evernote would be smart choices too. I always title the name of the recording with the person’s name who I met.
Some points for my notes include:
- Who the person is.
- Where they work.
- What they do for a living.
- What they want to do for a living.
- How I may be able to help them.
- Resources I should refer to that they mentioned.
- How they may be able to help me.
- When I should follow up.
When I return to my computer, I listen to the audio and transcribe the notes. I mark my calendar in Gmail to remind me when I should follow up.
Do you do this too? How do you keep track of the people you meet?
Photo from Flickr by: yum9me
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