Today we are going to talk about how to maximize contacts and not let any opportunity go by the wayside.  This was inspired by some conversations I have had with some of my trainees here at Emerge. Everybody talks to me about leads.  How do I generate contacts when I’m in a new place, or after I’m stuck, or I have gone through my warm market already?

This is when many people come to Emerge.  This is important for leaders out there as well, because this isn’t the surface question or issue that comes up when your talking with your team members.  Many times they get stuck and think it’s silly to bring up the question of “I don’t know who to call”.

There are people that get into network marketing and can make contacts everywhere they go – they walk into a grocery store and walk out with an appointment.  Not everyone is wired that way.

Usually this is an issue that’s underneath other issues when it comes to not hitting goals:  People run out of who to call. I think we’ve all been there, right? So today we will talk about making the most out of every contact and try to move as many people possible into some sort of relationship.

When I ask people what they are doing right now to generate leads, most people say, social media, vendor events or booths, friends hosting classes or parties, and networking groups.  These are all great sources for contacts. Now let’s talk about how to maximize these contacts. We’ve had podcasts on referrals, and it is a big part of Emerge’s main coaching course, and I have recently talked to 3 people about how to maximize on vendor leads, we’ll focus there today.

Vendor booths are a fun way to get into the community, make some contacts and set appointments.  We have a great training on how to set appointments, or have a 7-min quick sales conversation right at your booth and enroll a customer right on the spot and it’s amazing.  This is a great way to capture people that are looking to buy right there at your booth.

Now, let’s talk about what happens to the other opportunity that is on the table.  So this is the scenario I have heard recently: they spoke to about 40-45 people, set up 2 appointments, and invited the rest to a class, but only 2 people showed up to the class.  That’s about 10% conversion or less into some sort of an activity if the appointments show up.

So how do we get this up to 50-60% of an activity?  Can you imagine what that would do to your customer pipeline?  Just to be on the same page, a pipeline is when you have people to call over a longer timespan.  We need to have a strategy for the quick customer cycle and the longer customer potential as well.

Let’s brainstorm this a bit.  Here are 3 tips that can help:

  1. Make a connection that is more than a connection:
    You engage in some sort of conversation, ask questions- what do they do?  What are things they seem interested in? What kinds of things do they want help with?  What do they know? If you’re focused on health, write a few of their health goals. Write down these things on the back of the info card.  For example, if you are at a health fair, of course you go for the appointment 1st, have open spots highlighted on your calendar and certain dates and time available that next week and help them fill it out.  Make sure to get their name, phone, email, and Facebook name, and have a class or second option if they are not open to a 1-on-1 appointment.
  2. Start a relationship:
    Get the contact information, if you are doing a drawing or just sending them something, get their info and friend request on Facebook.  Create a score – each person you speak to score their interest level so you can prioritize the rapidness and persistence of reaching out.  If you only have 3 hours blocked to follow up with your vendor contacts, then make sure that you call all the people that you marked high on interest level first.
  3. Do the work!
    Here’s the deal:  I know that you don’t want to be scouring through 100 people after a vendor event, but you don’t want to run out of people either.  I talk to trainees and clients constantly who have run out of people to call and they have stacks of contact sheets that are old. If you are proactive with this, you can get these contacts in Facebook,  or an email or text list. Reach out ASAP, send a quick video with content about your product, let them know about an upcoming event, stay in some communication with them for contact strategy, because timing is everything.  So quick and consistent contact within 2-3 days is key to build a relationship and grow your potential with those contacts.

So when you have your next vendor event, keep these tips in mind to help build that pipeline of contacts that you can tap into.   

Thank you so much for reading today’s post.  You can reach out to me at aj@emergesalestraining.com.  And to sign up for one of our courses including our vendor training course go to http://bit.ly/2Hp2Wl7.