Prospecting Basics
It’s human nature. We judge. You have done it before. Even I have done it before, but I really want to take this chance to tell you to stop. Doing so may actually be sabotaging you.
I remember taking a seasonal job in a high end department store. We were paid base plus commissions. Many times people would come in and the salesgirls I was working with (there happened to be a lot in my department) would completely ignore the person. I would ask them if they’d helped that person and some would snicker and say, “Who her? They’re not going to buy anything…” or …”They’re teenagers, what job do they have to pay for stuff?” Pretentious, right? Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing when you form an opinion on a prospect without truly getting to know them.
So, of course being me, I went right after those customers. I’m a big fan of treating everyone equally until they prove themselves otherwise (lol). That lady that could hardly speak English and was wandering around in gym clothes? Yeah, her husband was a very influential part of the Mexican government and sent her up to the U.S.A. for the weekend to shop. She bought over $1,500 worth of stuff in 15 minutes because I catered to her. Those little teenagers? They had Daddy’s credit card and spent $650 in 5 minutes JUST because I was decent enough to walk up to them and treat them like valuable customers and believe me, I wasn’t too proud to cater to kiddos 10 years younger than me. Success isn’t proud. That’s what my paycheck said, anyway.
What I’m saying is, NEVER judge a book by its cover. Yes, that old cliche, but it still holds so true. Now that I’ve told you that story let me go back to a little more recently because Lord knows I’m not perfect and I have reverted back to my human ways and started to judge people without really realizing what I was doing.
Have you ever seen a potential prospect or perhaps been dealing directly with a prospect and thought any of the following? Don’t lie…I’m watching you:
- Oh, that person is too shy. This wouldn’t be for them. (You’d be amazed by those that outperform. Some of the biggest hustlers on my team were the most “quiet”.)
- They already have a successful career, I doubt they’re looking to start a home based business. ( BIG ONE RIGHT HERE. I was DYING for a way out of my “coveted” corporate position.)
- Well..they’re in college, so I guess that’s the path they’re looking to stick to (Again–another one. I went to college, too, and WISH someone would have saved me from my misery and introduced me to this industry years ago)
- They’re retired and finished working. They don’t need to start a home based business. They’re done working. (Retired people get bored and like to take up new things more than you think. They may want to stay busy OR actually need to supplement their income.)
- They don’t have the money (True, sometimes people DON’T have the money, BUT don’t be selfish and NOT share this with them because a home based business would be a solution to that problem AND…if you don’t know already…some of the most ridiculously successful in this industry FOUND the money. They were dead broke and went out and borrowed it…sold their car..sold their TV..or even risked skipping their mortgage and such. Allow them to be the judge of not having money, ok?)
In a nutshell, perhaps you haven’t thought of all of the things I have, but you gotta admit–you have done this to some degree before, no? When I openly recognized that I was doing this and knocked my nonsense off, the amount of “amazing” doubled in my business. I felt bad for doing this without really realizing it.
I’m not telling you to waste your time targeting EVERYONE, but what I am telling you is to keep an open mind. Now, let’s have a moment of honesty here…what other bullet points can you add to this?