Where And How Do Your Find Prospects?

Notes from Team Support Call on January 29, 2007

TOPIC: Where and how do you find prospects?

Kathy Palmer talked about how she leveraged herself by showing SOC to a couple who were head of a financial planning group she belongs to. They signed up, and now they want to show it to 60 agents connected with their group!

Judy O'Higgins talked about maximizing the opportunity when you "Bump Into" someone unexpected as happened with her new Pest Control company. By asking the right questions, you can find out if there is interest in card sending to the company's customers and schedule a gift account walk through for them. Judy got a new Entrepreneur from this method.

Kathy Paauw mentioned that "bump-intos" can be with people you meet online, too -- email you receive, chat rooms, etc.

Vauna Powell talked about doing this method with people who come to your home to do repairs or remodeling, and has signed up several new card senders from people who came to her new home for various reasons (smoke alarm person, deck builder, etc).

The Main Categories mentioned on the call were:

• Warm Market - ask for referrals
• Cold Market: - ask for referrals
• Professional Groups
• Networking Groups
• Events & Trade Shows (with or without a booth)
• Small Group Presentations
• Bump Into’s
  

On a future call we may want to discuss the concept of the Target Market.

Notes from Jordan Adler’s call a few weeks ago on the same topic

(Interview of members from the Eagle’s Nest):

Trade Associations – (Sarah Barnhart)

Previous career - associations you belonged to

Convention Center or Chamber of Commerce knows where a trade association is having a convention. They have exhibitors. Maybe be an exhibitor.

Trade Association Meetings – can you go to those?

Talk with people who are doing training or doing seminars.

Ask questions about them, and they reciprocate by asking about you.

Tell them that “SOC is a unique blend of the Internet with a traditional printed greeting card. What I’d really love to do is show you how it works. Do you send thank you cards? How do you let people you know that you appreciate them?” Talk about Tom Hopkins or Brian Buffini and how they have effectively used greeting cards.

Personal Growth Seminars – great place to meet people

Networking Organization – (D’Vorah Lansky)

Monthly coffee – 60 seconds to share about their business, what types of referrals they are looking for. She builds relationships, and people come to her thanking her for her cards and calls. Takes 3-12 months to build the business. Nurture relationships FIRST. Get so many people in the pipeline so you don’t have to worry about it.

Small Group Presentations – (Chad Bamrick)

Offices – can have one person send a card, but that is the only person who has the emotional experience. Must follow up with others to have them send a card themselves. The intellectual experience is not the same as the emotional experience.

The goal is to set up the gift account, not to sign a bunch of people.

If there are other SOC people, they can help field calls and provide testimonials.

www.thecoolbuzz.com -- click on training

Guidelines on how to do trade shows and presentations:

http://www.thecoolbuzz.com/trade_shows_group_presentation.html

Sponsoring Events - (Mark Herdering)

Something condusive to SOC. He sponsored GEMS (dealing with personality types)

Cost him $500, and he brought in 4 distributors, so it was $100 each.

They gave them ability to speak before the group, gave them a booth and promoted them, so people came to them. Easy to work a room like that.

Referrals – ask people for referrals when you walk people through a gift account. “I am expanding my business. If you know of people who could use this, I would appreciate the referral.”

www.meetup.com

Networking Groups - (Judy O’Higgins)

She gets involved as the contact person for the networking group, so she is the first person to start a relationship with a guest. She talks with them, meets them at the door, sits next to them, and builds relationships, then sends cards.

She is the contact person for the speaker, so she gets there early and they are there early and she naturally talks about what she does. Sends thank you for speaking. Contacts them and asks if they want to send some free cards.

People in our everyday life – services we use. Ask if they ever send thank you cards.

Email – (Jordan Adler)

He sends out an email that says he is updating his holiday and birthday list. He asks them to please send correct physical address and birthday. Then he sends birthday cards. Many of the people in his organization today are people he sent a birthday card to.