Conscientious Follow-up or Stalker?

I often get questions from people who have their sights on an opportunity – a specific job that they want, or a company or manage that they want to work for – and they want advice about how best to make contact. In most cases the question comes down to, “At what point do I stop being seen as proactive and aggressive and start being treated like a stalker?

For my business I’m often calling people to get them to look at our software, and often cold-calling. My rules of thumb are:

• Wherever possible, I try to reach them through mutual friends or casual interactive. I mention once that I’d like to talk to them some other time about business. If they are eager to talk, I listen hard and discuss a little about what I want. If they are receptive but not eager, I’ll ask whether I can call next week (or some not-too-distant time in the future). If they are noncommittal or hostile, I move on to other subjects and don’t bring it up again.



• I (networking again) try to find out what the needs are of the people I want to work for and with. What causes them trouble at work? I try to figure out what I can do to solve their problem, even if it does not involve a job for me.



• After talking to someone at the company I say, “thank you” either at the end of the conversation, if it’s short, or in an e-mail if a longer casual conversation, or by sending a letter.



• I make sure that I contact them with something of interest to them between conversations about things that interest me. Depending on the response I get, sometimes I’ll wait even longer between conversations about things that matter to me.



• I am reliable about everything. If I said I would call at a certain time, I call. If I said I would find something and send it, I send it.

These simple rules can help keep you in the “Valuable Resource” category rather than the, “Restraining Order Needed” group!