Very informative and useful article. Thank you for the tips. Their are a couple great how-to pages on using Facebook as you suggested that expand on its use and recommend a couple applications that may help bloggers, artists and musicians in particular. You might like to check them out; the links:

http://www.squidoo.com/Facebook-bloggers
http://www.squidoo.com/Facebook-Optimization

Woolworths…oh, I had forgotten about Woolworths (which perfectly proves your point!). You are so right – at some point, something has to change – and sitting tight won’t work.

It’s like a marriage where one person knows something is wrong – but she refuses to get counseling, and figures that time will eventually heal all wounds. Maybe that approach will work. But more often than not, change has to occur to get things back on track. And if someone isn’t willing to change…well….the marriage (or in this case, the business) may not continue…

Thanks for your comment!

At this point in time, you need to change, you may be quite comfortable sitting tight waiting. But nothing will happen unless businesses change. It is a positive opportunity, but everyone sees it as a risk. Well staying put is a risk, look what happened to Zavvi and Woolworths especially, did Woolworths ever move in all the years they had been in business? NOPE.

I completely agree with your comment, “if they sense you are really just fishing for work, the call may annoy them.” That’s very, very true. And yes, it’s always good to send a client a link to a relevant new article – or something else you know they’d enjoy.

However, I would still call over sending an email. And here’s why:

When’s the last time you actually *talked* to a vendor or client (versus sending emails back and forth, Tweeting or sitting on conference calls.) Exactly. Although we talk about how social media connects us all, sometimes what’s lost is the personal, “Hey, let’s get on the phone and chat for 10 minutes” approach. It doesn’t mean that you have to go in-depth and ask about their marriage, what they ate for dinner and what their favorite television shows are. But it does mean that you show that there is a human being behind the vendor/client relationship.

When the money starts to flow again, you’ll be more top of mind. And even if you *don’t* receive another dime from your client, you’ve helped forge a relationship. It’s a win-win.

Thanks, Bob, for posting!