Start a fire in the hearts and minds of your prospects.

I recently rented a mountain cabin with a beautiful, big stone fireplace. It was the perfect day for a fire. I purchased three bundles of firewood. I stuffed old newspapers between the logs. I lit the paper on fire and got a huge flame, but the logs did not catch. I tried again by stuffing more paper in between the logs. Once again, there was a huge flame, but the logs did not catch. I repeated this a few times. No success. I walked away, frustrated. But three minutes later, I heard my family exclaim, hey, you have a great fire going! My work paid off! Somehow, out of my line of vision, things were happening that caused that fire to come to life. It was beautiful!

Are you putting in the work to start a fire with your prospects? Salespeople often complain that prospecting does not work. Our team hears comments like, no one returns my calls or emails. They are not interested. But is this true? Did you try more than once or twice to reach a person?

Think of your messages as a specialized advertisement. From the prospect's perspective, let them know in 20 seconds or less how you can help them. You do not have to say everything in one message. Let your messages tell a story over time. Research shows that to get the first conversation with a prospect, you may have to reach out to them 6 to 8 times using a combination of phone calls, emails, and LinkedIn. Are you doing that? Or do you stop after a couple of attempts, assuming they are not interested?

Here is the beauty of your effort: you have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. It may feel frustrating on your end, just like the fire did to me, but surprisingly, the prospect may call you unexpectedly or answer the phone and let you know they are interested!