More Arguments in Favor of Ma Bell.

by Chris Johnson

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Guess who woke up full of passion, piss and vinegar?

Shiver me timbers, it’s GenuineChris.   So, let’s talk 1.0, 2.0 and stuff.

NEVER did I say–or advocate–that it’s acceptable to burn through clients.  You can AFFORD to when you have 1.0 skills.  But it’s wasteful, stupid and inefficient.  So, get this: I said I’ve been wasteful stupid and inefficient in the past.  Who hasn’t?  Who admits it?  You find people to honor.  To help, to serve.

NEVER do I say that you list anything, work with anyone.  INITIATING a conversation doesn’t obligate you to take junk listings or work with mentally ill drama queens.  You’re looking for the BEST AND MOST PROFITABLE people to sell to.

NEVER did I–or will I–say that “cold calling was the ONLY way that I generate business.”   Fact is, I adovocate “deliberate connecting,” first, THEN cold calling.   Connect with, and build a Brian Brady proof fence around EVERYONE that you know.  EVERYONE that you interact with.  (By the way, a Brian Brady proof fence would be a magnificent thing).   Connect, DELIBERATELY.  A call to your top 400 people once a quarter.  That’s just: 133 calls/month.  Or ~40 calls a week.  Or ~8 calls a day.    And it’s unobtrusive, and if you do it serving them…

…you’ll never starve.

Most people won’t even do that.   I dig the drama, the tension, and that’s why I like honing myself as a “cold” caller.  I do it to build my ability to connect with people as much as anything else.  Fact is, I’m persistent, I’m Rocky Balboa.  I get my face beat in but I keep coming back for another round.  And the fact is, I call people, in roughly the order:

-People that know, like trust and seek me out: every 30 days.  There are 45 people on this list.  And I talk to them as often as I can, and I make it a point to honor all of them.  Never forget the people that have helped.  Be present and ready to give them a %%^& referral.

-People that know me and recognize me. Every 90 days, a CONVERSATION.   Today?  We’re at about 216 of these folks, but I need to scrub and clean my list.  Probably will be at 250 or so.    But we talk anyway.  These people?  What do you do? Add value to them.  Give first.  It’ll pay you back.   Trust it.   It might not come back from the person you put it into…but with the increasingly good BS detectors that your fellow citizens are armed with, you need something.  Just like blogging pays you back if you do it to share, lead and help.   Tell ’em about the market.  Tell ’em about their website.  Tell ’em about something inspiring.  But CALL these folks every 90 days.

Then: people I want to know but are above my level. 5 a day.  25 a week.  I have a list of 150 people I want to meet.  I want to serve all of ’em.  And one by one, I’m connecting, adding them to my Facebook.

People (maybe the ninety and nine) merely in my database. Once a year if they like me, once every six months if I don’t think they do.  This is everything else.  Every name, if I recognize it or if I don’t gets called.

After this, if (as is the case in JANUARY) my revenues are lower-than-intended.  Call strangers, anyone.  Stir the soup.  Be ridiculous.    Get it?  OK.  Stop withering like a ninny every time i say pick up the effing phone.  No, I never, ever, ever said it’s the only thing to do.   Come on.

It’s REALLY EASY to offer a convincing rebuttal when you don’t hold yourself to the standard of being sure that the other person actually took the position you’re bashing.  Just don’t let your ‘cold call’ derangement rule the day.

Next Point:  You are NUTS NUTS NUTS if you only have one way to get business.   IN-sane.

K?  Here’s the thing.  ANY souce could dry up.  Hell, with our nanny state, we could get a Do Not Connect list for social media.  A national OpenID powered list of people that you’re not allowed to connect with.  Who knows, could happen.  What then?   Blogging could become too hard to break into.  What then?   Any one source could dry up.  My standard is that I need to support my expenses with three sources of business.  I’m not currently there, FYI, but I’m not stopping till I am.

The standard that I want is this: AS MUCH gross referral business as possible, but no more than 40% of the total business from any one source.  Why?  Because I’m getting RICH when I keep myself on the streets getting new people.  The folks that say, “I only deal by referral,” make me smile.  “Good.  I am glad you don’t have the stones to market.”

Now: social media–done right–builds a fence around people that you already know.  So, some of your social media efforts in connecting Brian Brady-proof your list, and make it easier to connect with people.

So, if 40% comes from your list/referrals MARKETED TO DELIBERATELY…where’s the rest?   Doesn’t matter provided that the ROI is right.  But, for me, it’s about 15% blogging, 15% social media & 30% prospecting.   I’ll be the first to say: I have what I think are the BEST sources of incoming people.  But I don’t have enough sources.  I need more.  I probably think at least 7 wholly different sources are minimum.

OK, get it?   Good.   More to come, people, more to come.   I gots to make me some calls to connect and help.