I was surprised yesterday afternoon by a phone call from a business school student at the University of Maryland.  She got my name from an alumni list and asked if I would mind spending 15 minutes to provide some career advice as she’s about to graduate and enter the world of Corporate America.

One of her most interesting questions was to ask, if I only had one singular piece of advice to give, what would it be?  And the answer, surprisingly, came as clear as a bell – to be ever conscious of the power of follow-up. To explain what I mean, let’s back up two weeks.

During an afternoon of too many meetings and emails, I accidentally received an email not intended for me. (It was a typical Outlook error where the email was intended for a different “Connie”.)  I could easily have hit delete but thought it would be best to let the sender know that the right “Connie” hadn’t gotten the message. (Follow up #1.)

I responded that I’d been mistakenly copied and made a joke about someone in the email stream who might be upset that I was copied because she sounded rather upset in her message.  She and I didn’t know each other at all, but she found my joke funny and responded to me directly.  (Follow up #2.)

We traded a few light-hearted emails; she looked me up on Linked In; and circled back to ask me about my Teen Leadership program.  (Follow ups #3 and #4.) 

And here’s where the “gold” comes in.

It would have been SO easy for me to tell her that the marketing consulting side of my business has kept me from being able to spend much time developing the Teen Leadership program that I’m passionate about.  It would have been SO easy to tell her that I’d love to talk to her sometime in a few months about the potential for collaboration opportunities.  Instead, my instinct was to follow-up.  Because you never know what leads may arise, personal or professional, when you make the time to be present.

So, we set up a call (Follow up #5) and what was intended to be a brief introduction turned into an hour-long conversation with connections and common interests being sparked throughout.

As it turns out, she’s the Executive Director for a large professional organization of business leaders. Her team is planning a Youth Conference for the Spring of 2019 and after reading on my website about my Teen Life Skills program, she invited me to submit a proposal to be part of that program.  This conference would not only be an exceptional opportunity to launch my program officially, but could potentially lead to other opportunities with sister chapters across the U.S.

And this brings us to my random call from the student at the University of Maryland, which came in exactly two hours after my fortuitous conversation with the executive director. 

And thus, when the student asked for my singular piece of advice – the answer was easy. Never forget the power of follow-up.  Never forget that most people won’t invest the time or energy because they think they’re “too busy”.  It is too easy to sit behind a keyboard and apply for a job, then wait for the phone to ring.  It is too easy to wait for someone else to call and schedule a meetup for lunch or dinner.  It is too easy to say, “I don’t have time for that phone call or to attend that event,” when in reality – it may have been exactly the place you needed to be to meet just the right contact which leads to a perfect job, relationship, or learning opportunity.

In short – be the one to take the initiative.  Follow-up on emails, phone calls, appointments, and relationships.  Invest energy in other people, even when you have no idea where that conversation or introduction may lead.  Because in the end, follow-up is the biggest differentiator between those who dream and those who succeed.