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It never ceases to amaze me on how many very intelligent people get really strange when I tell them I regularly cold prospect for clients. I have had a lot of success from it. I even had someone say I would not lower myself to such a thing. My answer to that remark was as follows "Did you know the person who interviewed you for your job?" "did you know your wife or husband, before you met them." As you can imagine the conversation quickly goes onto other things! Why this misunderstanding and bad attitude. The seed of fear of people is probably started from when mum and dad told us to be beware of strangers, especially if they offer you sweets. For its purpose it was the right thing to do. However as we grow older this attitude is carried on, and probaly grows worse as we get older. How many of you would dare dream of going up to a stranger and offering him or her a business opportunity. I think it is unfortunate we are not taught that strangers are un met friends. It would make life a lot easier and free of fear and would also help your attitude over lead generation for your particular business. Cold contacting (or warm prospecting) does work. I might suggest as starters that you read skill with people by Les Giblin, how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnigie and the magic of thinking big by david Swartz. When I say read, I mean study them and put into practice what you read. I challenge you to do this for 21 days and watch your attitude to other people grow. You can certainly see that if you are to develop a business and make money, then you need people. Dedicate at least 2 hours exclusively to making a written list of everyone you know; everywhere. Include acquaintances from years ago. Names of people who live over 150 miles away and whom you do not see frequently should be written on a separate "long distance" list. your sales team should "brain storm" together in making their list, avoiding any screening out by pre-judging people while making the list. (You never know who has a dream or needs money, life insurance or a mortgage etc. So you should talk to everyone). If your first list does not contain at least 100 names, you are probably pre-screening. Don't pre-screen, as the only requirement for people to do this lead generation business is that they have a dream or a goal. Your first list will continue to grow rapidly for several days as you keep recalling people, so keep a pen and paper with you at all times. This list becomes a starting point for both building a network and your core business, and will continue to grow as you meet new people. Q. What do you do when you run out of names? A. Talk to people and ask Questions! Develop an awareness of people every day. Make it a habit. Your biggest source of people is new acquaintances you can get to know better. Learn to be a good listener. The following is only one example of how to prospect people for your business. Talk to your mentor and listen to the suggested tapes and cds for many other approaches. I would also advise that you attend as many conferences as possible and associate with successful people, especially in your field.
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