Years ago, I had a prospect I just could not get in touch with. I’d tried everything but couldn’t get a meeting with him.
One day, out of nowhere, I spotted him while walking my miniature greyhound, Sebastian. He was with his two little girls, and willing to do whatever it took to get the sale, I busted out the puppy trick. The perfect excuse to get front and center.
They were going into a gas station, so I happened to reach the door just in time to “meet up” with them when they walked out. We struck up a conversation, the girls played with Sebastian for a few minutes, and I ended up doing business with that man for the next ten years.
So, what can you learn from this situation?
It’s not always about hunting people down in their offices or place of business. It’s about putting yourself in a situation where you can have encounters with a prospect – even outside of the office.
Think outside the box. Here are a few creative ways to make a connection:
- Find out where your prospects hang out. Do some online reconnaissance and find out their favorite hobbies, the sports’ teams they root for, or where they work out. Then, go there. Rubbing elbows with a prospect outside of the office is a great way to move a prospect through a long sales cycle and end up with a sale.
- Get a drone. Okay, so you don’t actually have to buy a drone, but get creative about new opportunities. I often take my drone to the park and ask people if I can take their picture (everyone loves to see their picture from the sky!) You’d be shocked at how many people respond positively to the question and how many people come up to me on their own to strike up a conversation. I can find out a little bit about the person, get his email address to send the picture, and then follow up on any sales leads.
- Say yes to everything. When you’re just starting out, you can’t afford to say no to any opportunity to get leads and get in front of prospects. You can’t be too cool to approach people on the street or fly your drone in the park. Keep an always-on-the-job training mentality and build an instant response method for identifying and connecting with leads. It becomes impulse to act on opportunities, instead of actively looking for them.
Take my word for it: Use anything and everything at your disposal, use creativity and ingenuity, and seize opportunities that come up all around you. You’ll quickly adopt a “sales” mentality and start collecting leads that can become customers.
