RULE #17: MAINTAIN YOUR NETWORK

"OUR LIFE IS FRITTERED
AWAY BY DETAIL ... SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY."

- HENRY DAVID THOREAU

If you do one follow-up and then lose touch, what did you really gain? Continued engagement with your network is the difference between having acquaintances and having strong relationships. Managing a network can appear overwhelming, but it's easier than you think.

Don't let yourself burn out or get stressed about keeping in touch with everyone...use what's available and make it easier on yourself. The tools below will help you do that.

RECOMMENDED TOOLS:

• Contactually - is a perfect tool that makes sure you never forget to follow-up with anyone, ever. The program is extremely beneficial in helping you organize your contacts into categories (buckets) and then you can apply follow-up reminder rules and tags based on their interests. This program has tons more to offer and is continuously improving.
• InsideView*** - gives you insight on your competitors and partners. The tool provides you with almost everything you need to know about a company. Whenever you come across anything newsworthy that relates to a friend or their company you can reach out to them.
• Newsle*** - tracks people in the news. It finds articles about you and anyone else you care about and will notify you after they are published. It also makes the process of sharing these articles with your network extremely simple.
• ContentGems - is a service that makes it easier for you to share engaging content with your network. It all takes place in real time. You choose the topics and your contacts will receive the most relevant and popular information about it. It also has an integration with Bitly so you can track click-through analytics. You will always know which pieces of content people liked and didn't like so you can maximize your efforts in a particular direction.
• Boomerang on Gmail*** - is a plugin that makes sure your emails are noticed and receive responses. You have full control of when you send and receive email messages.
• Rapportive*** - shares information about your contacts in your inbox.

KEY: ***= FREE

*ANY OTHER TOOLS YOU RECOMMEND?
I'd love to hear about them. Tell me in the comments section.