I hear an awful lot of prospecting and lead generation tips and ideas every week as an editor for LifeHealthPro – some are good and original, some are obvious, and some are just outright ridiculous.
But it always catches my attention when one of the tips or ideas I've read or heard about ends up being used on me!
Such was the case recently when a mortgage broker – one of two my wife and I were considering using when we bought a new house a year or so ago – asked me a seemingly innocent question via email. Even though we decided to go with the other mortgage broker for our home loan, this mortgage broker, who I contacted originally via a referral from a trusted friend, simply asked if I would have any objection to him adding me to his database and sending me his "informative, useful" monthly e-newsletter that he sends to his "best clients."
Hmmm. This sounded suspiciously familiar to a strategy I heard while listening to a 2012 teleconference from NU Life & Health "Better Prospecting" columnist Kim Magdalein and his guest that month, famed prospecting expert Robert E. Krumroy.
Krumroy said 80 percent of the people you met yesterday will turn down your offer today to set up an appointment. But if you take a different approach instead of asking for the meeting, you can be much more effective in the long run by building up your database by asking the person this simple question: "Do you have any objection if I put you in my database and treat you as a privileged client for 12 months?"