Ask the Sales Doctor - Total Selling Systems

Warren Wechsler's
Ask the Sales Doctor

Maximize Your Networking Skills

Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Some restrictions apply to the use and distribution of this information. For more valuable materials, visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com. All materials and content © Warren Wechsler, 2001 – All rights reserved.

Barry writes:

What do you recommend to do after you've attended a network party where you've met new potential customers?

Warren answers:

You know, Barry, this question ties in really well with our theme this week. In fact, Barry, I have to thank you. I received this question last week, and I thought, "What a great question. I'm going to build a whole show around that." It's not like I'm clairvoyant. The question preceded the theme of this week's show.

It's interesting that that question came at the end of the previous segment because I really didn't cover that as far as what you do, and now I will.

The first thing that I always do after one of those functions is that I lay out all the cards on a table, and I prioritize them. I'm looking for priorities as far as how it affects me. Where is the greatest revenue potential? Where is the quickest path to revenue? How loyal is that revenue? What type of name recognition am I going to have if I use that company's name as a satisfied client? What type of referral opportunities would there be if I were to do business with them? Could that be the beginning of a long chain of events that would get me involved with other companies? Those are the five criteria that I use to prioritize my prospects.

Anyway, Barry, you lay them all out, and you prioritize them. The top ten or twenty percent of those cards are going to be what I call your A prospects. With the A prospects, you take out a piece of paper and you write them a handwritten thank-you note. "Dear Joe, I really enjoyed meeting you at the Chamber of Commerce Overtime function. Based on what we talked about I found out that your business is involved in business-to-business in the Southeast Iowa region, and you're looking to expand into the Des Moines area." And then you go on and on, and you tell them some other things, and you suggest to them that you'll call because you'd like to get together with them and get an appointment. So that's what you do with the A's. You send them a thank-you note, and within three or four days of that note being mailed, you call the people up. You try and ask them for the appointment.

With everybody else, all the other people that aren't the A's, just wait a week or so, and then call them up in order of priority. I'd get through all the B's. Then when you get to the C's and D's, which should be the fifty to seventy percent at the bottom, if you have the time, follow up with them with a quick phone call. Or get them on your mailing list, send them a newsletter, and do some type of marketing with those people so they get the chance to make sure that they are receiving your message. I also suggest with those that you're always implanting your positioning statement so that they get a chance to know who you are and what you do.

Barry, that's the answer to the question. It's a great question. A lot of people attend these networking functions and they never follow up. I'm a big believer that if you're going to go and be involved and spend all that time and energy and sometimes money attending some of these events, it's really important to maximize your efforts by following up. As Woody Allen said many years ago in the movie Annie Hall, eighty percent of being successful in life is showing up. Those people that keep showing up over and over again are the ones that usually maximize the success in their career.

This was a partial transcript from Warren Wechsler's weekly radio show. Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com Also, listen to Warren's weekly radio broadcast Wednesday's at 4:05 - 5:00 pm Central time, on KMCD-AM 1570AM. Shows are broadcast live on the internet at http://www.warpradio.com/asx/KMCD-AM.asx