Ten Seconds
The phone rang. I was in the middle of a conversation. I hesitated. I picked it up. “Hello,” I said. “Nick Miller.” Read more »
Prospecting
Pulling The Trigger
I first met the woman who is now my wife on the red leather back seat of a white Cadillac Eldorado at Logan Airport in Boston. Blind date. Read more »
One – Two Punch
Many business owners and senior executives have short attention spans. When we receive unsolicited telephone calls from sales people, we listen for about 7 – 10 seconds, decide whether we want to keep listening, and move on. We will listen if we think there’s a message that will help us. Read more »
We Haven’t Been Introduced
Summer is coming here in New England and, with it, memories of early adolescent ocean-side cold calling and prospecting efforts. I can still recall clearly a particular drop-by cold call I made on a vivaciously attractive young lady, sitting on her beach towel on the …um… beach. Read more »
Headlines
If the right fish ain’t bitin’ the bait you’re flickin’, change the bait ‘till the right biters bite. Read more »
Just Whistle
I walked with a friend as she walked her dogs a few nights ago. Her “hounds” are big, affectionate, and full of energy. She had them off-leash, so they explored and investigated at a half-urgent leisurely trot at a distance of 20 – 40 yards or so. At one point, my friend whistled a pattern … Read more »
Ramming Speed
I went sailing last week. While the New England cold got colder and more snow fell, I escaped for a few moments to a warmer climate and, for a lark and a single credit card swipe, went sailing for three hours aboard one of the New Zealand 1992 Americas Cup trial boats, NZL-12, a dark-hulled beauty … Read more »
Happy and Interested
….In which we provide an effective alternative to cold calling prospects for appointments. Which would you rather do? Make 500 cold calls seeking appointments with people you’ve never met and who don’t want to talk to you? Or create a personal marketing program which brings them to you? Read more »
Based on the Evidence
From the “I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried” department, a voice mail received earlier this month: Read more »
Make An Offer, Part 2
In which we look to emerging trouble or rising opportunity to attract prospect attention. More than once this decade, I have asked a motionless teenager: ‘What are you going to do this afternoon?’ The leaden replies, ‘I don’t know…………. I can’t think of anything.’ Read more »
We Are Seriously Social.