Organize Your Network – Part 1: You Know Many More People Than You Think You Do

If you sat down and wrote on a piece of paper the names of all the people you know—in any capacity—you would probably find that you know at least 200 people or more. Consider all of your affiliations:

• Accountant(s)
• Arts organizations
• Athletic teams (adults and children)
• Bosses (current/former)
• Business networkers
• Children’s school teachers/administration
• Church members
• Clients/Customers
• Colleagues
• Coworkers (current/former)
• Crafts/hobby groups
• Dentist(s)
• Doctor(s)
• Dry cleaner
• Family members
• Financial planner
• Friends (even those with whom you’ve lost touch)
• Gym membership/workout friends
• Military officers/buddies
• Neighbors (current/former)
• Professional associations
• Real estate agent(s)
• School chums (grammar, middle, high, college, professional,
  technical, etc.)
• Social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Special interest groups (Toastmasters, Rotary, Optimists,
  Lions, Political, etc.)
• Vendors/Suppliers
• Volunteer organizations

Review the list above and create your own list of all the people you know on an spreadsheet or table. Add the names as you think of them. Don’t worry about adding all the names at once. This is the beginning of a process.

HINT#1: Work with your spouse, a friend, or a family member to
develop your list. Two (or more) heads are better than one.

HINT#2: If you list the last name first in Column 1 and
the first name in Column 2 of your spreadsheet or table, you’ll be able to
sort alphabetically and save yourself a lot of work going forward.

When you’ve added all the names you can think of, add a word
or two in Column 3 about how you know this person: e.g., “church,” “friend,”
“coworker,” etc. Again, it’s not really necessary to add this information to
all the names all at once.

Next time: Learn about the wide variety of methods you can
use to manage your contacts, including spreadsheets, tables and online
options.

NOTE: Share your ideal method for contact management. Send
me your comments.