The people who have supported me the most are the people who already know and love me. Your strongest advocates are close at hand, stay in touch with them.

Your strongest advocates are:

1. Past clients

This group of people know and love you so much that they paid you to work on their business. Past clients are not just a source of future work, they’re also a source of business development.

If they’ve moved to the next level, then continuing to work with them means you’re expanding your offerings. They may need your advice more than ever. Call them. Ask what their recent challenges have been and offer a free Skype session.

2. Allied industry referrers

This group of people send you paying customers. Do you regularly talk to current and past referrers or just presume the referrals will keep coming?

Send them a thank you note for their support. Offer an advice session just for them. Let them know where you are at right now, because your business is developing all the time.

3. Friends

I can’t count how many friends have become referrers. Friends know and love you so much they find themselves telling others about you. Give your friends the option of being in your communication and connection loop and always be ready to offer support when they need your expert (or personal) advice.

4. People who knew you in past lives

No, I don’t mean when you were Cleopatra! These are the people you worked with in years gone by. Perhaps you raced against the clock to pull a project together or suffered under the same boss. Nobody worked more closely with you in your formative years than these people. What are they doing now? Would they like to know about what you’re up to? You’ll have no idea unless you get back in touch.

5. Your Mum and Dad

I hope you have a fatherly or motherly presence, if not your actual parents, cheering you on. My mum champions my every post on Facebook. She’s my number one fan and always ‘likes’ my posts…so does her best friend, who I call Aunty Liz.

It’s different with my dad. We have a tradition of monthly sushi. At over 70 years old he still travels overseas for business. Here’s how his sushi check-in typically goes: “How’s business Kate? Are you busy? Good, let’s eat.” The support and concern of my mum and dad means a lot.

Iggy Pintado suggests in his book The Connection Generation, it’s our task to discover which are the best communication channels for each person, and to keep in touch with them.

I agree, these days you have every opportunity, reason and method to stay connected to your biggest advocates. 

Who are your strongest advocates?