No One Wants Cold Fries

All throughout my teens, I worked in a family restaurant in my small town in Rhode Island. 

I started out as a dishwasher, moved up the ranks to busboy, and eventually became a line cook. 

The way a line works is that you have a bunch of people behind the counter all with different jobs. 

There's someone responsible for the grill, someone manning the cutting board, and usually two guys on the end in charge of the frialator- that's a machine that uses hot oil to turn frozen fries into the deliciousness you see on your plate at the restaurant. 

Manning the frialator is a tricky job because once you drop a basket of fries, you have to get them on a plate as soon as they come up which means everyone on the grill has to coordinate and if you wait too long after they've been dropped they'll get cold. 

The same philosophy applies to relationships. 

When you meet someone via an introduction or at an event you are dropping the fries in the oil. 

When you leave the event to end the meeting you are pulling up the basket. 

If you follow up right when you get home or the very next day than you are getting the fries on the plate. 

If you wait a week or two or a few months, the fries get cold. 

No One Wants Cold Fries. 

Everyone gets overwhelmed and forgets to follow up at some point. 

I personally have served up my share of cold fries in my lifetime, and I have learned that in doing so it can often damage the relationship or cause someone's excitement to dissipate. 

But the question is how do you avoid it? 

Back to the restaurant for our answer: 

1. Never drop more fries than you need- make a decision ahead of time about how much follow up time you have and limit the number of follow-ups you give yourself to do. Sure it'd be great to offer to connect with 15 people tomorrow, but be realistic about when this all happens. 

2. Plan for what's on the grill- If you look at your day and see you have 3 meetings, why not block out 3 times on your calendar for your follow-ups from those meetings? 

3. Have empty plates on hand- If you have follow-ups that still need to be completed, do those before adding any more to your list. It's super easy to let these things pile up, so set aside some time to work on them BEFORE booking your next gig. 

The best time to put fries on the plate is when they're nice and hot and crispy. 

The best time to follow up on a relationship is while it is still fresh in everyone's mind. 

So if you have any fries waiting to be plated, I hope you'll take the time now to get them out to your customers. 

Now I want fries. 

You probably do too. 

Do those follow-ups first ;) 

Excelsior! 

Michael Roderick is the founder of Small Pond Enterprises, a company that works at the intersection of relationship building and Thought Leadership. You can read more articles like this one on his daily email list HERE.