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It's true. The fortune is in the follow-up.

In an ideal situation, you'd have blocks of uninterrupted time in your schedule to follow-up with prospects and clients. However, as a busy service professional wearing a half dozen hats, this isn't always the case.

But wait!

Reaching out to new contacts and staying in touch with current clients doesn't need to be time consuming. In fact, here are three quick and easy things that you can do today, even if you only have five minutes:

WRITE A THANK YOU NOTE: Keep a few personalized note cards with you at all times and jot a quick "nice to meet you" or "thank you" note while you're on the train, sitting in the doctor's office, or waiting for your next appointment to arrive. Think about it, you can make a lasting impression for the cost of a postage stamp!

PICK UP THE PHONE: Make the most of your recent networking activities by picking up the telephone and calling that potential client or a strategic referral partner you've just met. Invite that person to coffee or lunch, or to an upcoming event. Also, I've found that simply calling to "check-in" on past and current clients not only strengthens my relationship with them, but my call will often prompt them to schedule an appointment or refer a friend to me. Not a bad return on my investment!

SEND THEM SOMETHING OF INTEREST: One of my favorite ways to follow-up with potential clients is to send them something of interest. Something they can really use. For example, this could be an article written by me or someone else, an invitation to an upcoming meeting, or a resource that addresses a specific problem or challenge they may have mentioned to me when we met.

See? You don't need to spend hours in order to stay in touch with your prospects and clients. (Hint: But you DO need to DO IT!)

Who will you reach out to and follow-up with today?

(c) Connie Scholl 2006