In February I received this email below from my friend John Gilroy. I forwarded it to my team as an example of great email follow up. Whether you are in sales, are applying for a job, or just want to keep up your business network, John offers a great template for email follow up.

I have been the recipient of many terrible follow up emails. This includes both people that want to work for me or want to sell me something. Their bad habits include making the email all about them, sending me a form email, or following up way to frequently.

Below are John's tips to send creative emails to your business network in order to build and keep a connection.

1. make it personal

2. make it humorous

3. always bring value -- free seat

4. tell the story visually, not verbally

5. make it short

Most of us get too many emails, but email is still a great way to communicate and keep in touch when combined with social media, phone communication and in person communication. Follow John's template, put in sustained effort, and I promise you will see great results.