by Karen Kahn

I seem to be hitting a time with several clients where they are feeling discouraged about “not bringing in business.”  All professionals, (including me!) who must blend doing what we were trained to do (and truly enjoy doing) with selling our services runs into this wall from time to time (even often).

Some researchers say that it takes 8-12 “touches” with people before they decide to officially engage.  What that means is that instead of focusing on “the sell”, focus on high quality touches.  There are a lot of great people out there who have written about the ways and means of developing relationships.

For those of you who find being very concrete helpful try this:  set a goal for yourself for the number of “touches” you want to make in a week.  For example:

• “first touch” – could be an e-mail which only takes 5 minutes to write, complementing the person on a comment they made in an interview and asking to have coffee to learn more
• “second touch” – a “drive-by latte” a 30 minute cup of coffee
• “third, fourth, fifth (etc) touch” – where you are able to expand conversation about topics that the two of you have found that you have in common

Some of my clients find that this counting approach helps direct them to keep moving forward with relationships.

Your assignment:

• Make a list of 20 people who would be valuable (and fun) to know.
• Make a chart that helps you track the number of times that there is an interchange between you and the other person.
• Aim for 10 “touches.”  Remember that connections produce many types of value:  introductions, resources, ideas, support, enjoyment, mentoring … business.

See if focusing on continuous contact as opposed to selling keeps you upbeat and progressing.