Re-ignite the conversation.
Think of the people in Your Gold Mine of 5,000 Contacts
Categorize them in two ways:
First by the strength of your relationship: A – Strong, B – Medium and C – Weak.
Second, classify them by their ability to hire you as a consultant or buy your products or services: 1 is a decision-maker, 2 can influence the decision and 3 is lightly involved in the decision-making process.
Finally, go through the list and label each person using the two categories of ABC for warmth of relationship and 123 for hiring/buying decision or influence.
Focus on:
A-1 Strong relationship and able to hire you or buy from you
A-2 Solid contact who is able to influence a consulting project or purchase
B-1 Medium relationship who can contract with you or buy from you
Let’s set aside the B-2s, C’s and the 3’s for the moment.
| A-Strong | B-Medium | C-Weak | |
| 1-Decision maker | YES | YES | Later |
| 2-Influencer | YES | Later | Later |
| 3-Lightly involved | Later | Later | Later |
Now that you have the subgroup of people with whom you have a strong or warm relationship and who may be able to work with you:
Step up to the phone and MAKE TWO CALLS A DAY.
This is NOT cold calling. You have a good relationship with these contacts.
Here’s some scripts to get started:
Hi, Pat. Your name came to mind when I heard/read about _____ . What do you think?
Hello, Sidney, Your article in ___ caught my eye. Did you know about ___?
Hi, Terry. I saw you posted on LinkedIn about _____. Tell me more about that.
Chat for a bit and ask your contact for one thing:
An introduction to someone (specific) in their circle
A time and date to get together for a longer conversation.
You can leave a voicemail; state you are in the office all afternoon and you would love to catch up.
Recite your phone number, which you have written out as words. For example, Two, One, Two (pause) Six, Seven, Seven (pause) Five, Seven, Seven, Zero.
Say your number slowly, so the person can actually write it down without listening to the message again.
This Month’s Tip
The best times to call may be at 9:55 am and 1:55 pm. Try calling just before the hour marker when your connection might have a few moments before going into a meeting. Your conversation may be brief enough to set up the next call.
Contact
Let’s categorize your contact list and identify the most viable names. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 212.677.5770. Together we’ll practice your pitch, so that it flows more naturally. You might even raise your phone game to more than two calls each day.
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