Common Situation

When prospecting or getting to higher level people, most sellers suffer the rejection and futility of cold calling because they hate to ask people they know for help.

Resulting Problem

People lose motivation and waste time making cold calls. They get nowhere slowly. Even worse, the constant rejection causes them to totally avoid prospecting for new opportunities and clients. This sales call avoidance results in a sales slump that make them feel worse. They become desperate and do start cold calling again with the same negative results and the downward rejection cycle continues.

Prepare Yourself

1. Identify and write down your target accounts on separate sheets of paper or in separate Excel files. You cannot do this in your head.

2. Now, ask yourself, "Whom do I want to get to?" and follow-up with "Whom do I know that knows, for example, an IT person at ABC Company?" Keep asking yourself, and sooner than later an answer will come. If you don't blatantly ask yourself, the ideas won't come to you - guaranteed. Record these names.

3. Ask others for help! Get over you're inhibitions. Look to people in your company, to people in the target account, to other compleimentary vendors you know. Call a sales person in the target account and say, "Can you help me?"

4. Be specific about the person you want to meet, when asking for help. i.e. "Do you know an IT person at ABC that's involved in systems, software design?" Or say to a vendor of a complimentary service, "When you sold the security system, who approved it and who got involved with the software interfacing?"

5. Ask your contact to make your introduction - either by phone or in person, not email. If you ask, they will probably do it. This will get you past gatekeepers and get your voicemail messages returned. Do not get just a name. Names won't get you a meeting.

6. Stop cold calling. It's only busy work, and worse, it's a waste of time. It either makes you feel you're doing something useful, which you're not, or it makes you feel nobody wants what you've got to offer, which again is not true.

For those working for someone else, it's easy to fall into the misconception that once you have your own business, you can call the shots. No more long hours tied to a job. In reality, a business can be just like a job...if you don't have a business that works for you.

Whether you want a home-based business for supplemental income or you want to kiss your job good-bye (or kick it to the curb as the case may be)...

Would you like to be earning money as you sleep, and have both financial and time freedom?

I'd like to share a story with you. It's from the The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki. I'll just summarize the story here in case you've already found time to read it.

"Once upon a time there was this quaint little village. It was a great place to live except for one problem. The village had no water unless it rained," the story begins.

To solve their problem the village contracted two people to deliver water. They contracted two instead of one to encourage competition.

Now here's the difference between the business working for the person and the person working for the business.

The first of the two people, Ed, quickly invested in two galvanized steel buckets and would run from the lake to the village and back again delivering water.

He labored from sunup to sundown but was happy that he was making money with his own business. In fact, he was making all the money because the second person, Bill, disappeared for a while.

Had Bill gone off in search of better buckets to compete with?

No way. And here's the difference between working for your business or having your business work for you.

Instead Bill had been busy creating a profitable business idea. He returned with a construction crew who built a large volume stainless steel pipeline, which connected the village to the lake.

At the grand opening celebration, Bill announced that his water was cleaner than Ed's water - which it was. He also announced that he could supply the village with water 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ed couldn't because after all he had to rest between all that hauling.

Then Bill announced that he would charge 75% less than Ed did for this higher quality and more reliable source of water. The village cheered and ran immediately for the faucet at the end of Bill's pipeline.

Ed did try to compete - by purchasing more buckets and hiring his two sons. But how do you think this story ends? If you haven't read The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki, go read it right now.

Are you ready to build a business that works for you, that is a pipeline to your wealth and financial freedom? If so, now is a good time for you to get started...the timing is right with all the elements right in place for you.

It doesn't matter if you are a "professional" network marketer or a newbie, this article is for you. If you are new to network marketing, refining your skills or getting back into it, you can guarantee yourself success if you follow the following tips:

1. Attend a MeetUp in your area and bring lots of business cards. This sounds like a no brainer, but I've been to several MeetUps where some individuals did not have a business card. If you're in between jobs or you simply don't have a company business card, make one up that is branded to you. Mention some of your skills in a slogan to make yourself memorable.

2. Prepare your elevator pitch, which is a 15 second introduction to what you do, for whom and why you do it. It's your value story and you should be able to deliver it in the same amount of time that it takes to ride an elevator.

3. Understand the purpose of a MeetUp. It's unlikely that you are going to sell anything at the MeetUp. You are there to collect business cards, identify which people you might make a connection with and build your list of names so that you can prospect them later.

4. Not everyone at the MeetUp is going to need or want your product or service right away. Thus, as soon as the networking event ends, take those business cards that you collected and add the names to your contact management system or email marketing system. Then, on the back of the business card or somewhere else, write if you think you can do business with this person and if they need your product or service right away i.e. prioritize your leads.

5. Call each of your contacts within 5 days after the event. Exchange pleasantries, repeat who are and your value story if necessary and ask for the business. If the prospect does not need your product or service, ask if you can follow up with them periodically. If they say yes, put that person on your drip mail campaign, which might send your prospect a piece of industry news or more details about your product or service once a month so that you can show your expertise and develop a relationship with that person.

6. You haven't officially followed up with someone until you've made telephone contact or face to face appointment. Some people communicate well with emails, but try to get that person on the phone.

7. Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up.It's ok to contact someone 3 times (1 voicemail, 1 email, etc.) within a one month period if you are unable to reach them. Sending an email is a passive way to follow up. Telephone calls are more direct. If you're going to leave a message, say something that makes the caller want to call you back. "Hey Bill, I was thinking about your business and I think I have something you need. At your convenience, give me a call back soon."

8. If your prospect is not interested in your product or service, offer alternatives i.e. offer to help them brainstorm or edit or what whatever other skill you might have to build a lasting business relationship. They may not need you now, but if they have someone in their sphere of influence that might benefit from you, he/she are more likely to refer you business if you've made a connection, either personal to professional.

9. If you've failed to follow up with a 1 week period, the lead has gone cold and more than likely, your new business contact has forgotten about you. Don't fret. Attend the next networking event and reconnect.

10. If you were more than one hat, i.e. you're a software engineer by day and a small business owner by night, only promote one thing. You have to brand yourself to what it is you want that person to remember you by. If you send out 3-4 messages, you'll likely to confuse your prospect. Networking is not an exact science and it takes some trial and error to find what works for you.

Networking events are fun and depending on the speaker or the program, your time is well spent if you've learned something new or at least made a connection. I'm interested in some of your networking stories and you can share some of your networking successes, connect or reconnect with new or old contacts at Bizintros.com, which is now open for business.