“We talk about the quality of product and service. What about the quality of our relationships and the quality of our communications and the quality of our promises to each other?” ~Max de Pree

I have been on using the micro-blogging service Twitter for about three weeks now.  I have acquired, as I write this blog entry, exactly 1014 followers.  That may seem like an impressive number, but I don’t think so.  I think most Twitter users are sorters, not relationship builders, and it takes a very large number of “sorts” to generate business.

I am a networker and I have been studying the process of how to naturally and effectively move from first contact to mutually beneficial referral relationship for years – this is one of my areas of world-class expertise.  My studies and my actions and results and my clients actions and results confirm these facts about networking:

The Truth About Networking

  • It takes time to develop relationships
  • It works best to build relationships first – then focus on business
  • People will always do business first with people they like and trust
  • Always give value first in any relationship
  • Until you have had at least 8 contacts with someone, separated by time, you are not real to them
  • In every interaction with a new contact, always be learning about them – a topic they know well
  • People will naturally use your services or buy from you once they know you, like you and trust that you will do a good job
  • People will naturally refer business to you – great presold business, as soon as they know you, like you and trust that you will do a great job

So, back to my 1000+ followers; How did I get these?  Some came to me from people that know me, from seminars or coaching or consulting.  These are very solid followers.  Some came to me from people that share common hobbies and business pursuits.  Some of these will over time become solid, some of these will not – fair enough.  Some of these followers came to me looking to sell me something right away – before I know a thing about them – most of these will drop out – sooner or later.  They spent and are spending zero time developing a relationship with me – they are just sorting and hoping, against all odds, that I happen to need exactly what they are selling at the exact instant in time that they are selling it.  Wow!  This is not my preferred way to do business at all!

My Takes on Twitter so far

  • Make sure that you include a variety of information in your bio section – let people get a feeling for the whole you.
  • In your tweets, talk about yourself and truly what you are doing – give people a chance to learn about you – and perhaps know you, like you and trust you!
  • For most people, tweeting about 3 times per day is optimal – except in special circumstances.  The people that are tweeting every few minutes are sorting and provide a huge tweet load – I tend to dump these followers – it’s too much effort and it is always about them and what they are selling!
  • Provide value first – good blog articles or links that you feel your followers would enjoy or quotes – all of these are okay – in moderation
  • If all you ever do is quote, how is someone going to learn much about you – talk about yourself!
  • If someone is nice enough to follow you, in general follow them back – unless you don’t care about what they are or talk about and cannot handle more tweet load

That’s all for today – I’m off to work.  I like Twitter.  It has generated business for me already and look to see more about my results with this service in the future.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.” ~George Washington