Any Old Rags

Some years ago, when I was in the insurance industry, a colleague of mine told me a story. He had been in Insurance for 5 years selling it door to door. One night his mother commented that she had just taken out a large insurance policy with another company. My colleague screamed "why did you not come and see me?" His mother replied, well you never asked if I needed insurance but my agent did.

The moral of the story is, if you are marketing something make sure everyone knows about. You do not need to shove it down their throats but mention it once in a while or you could lose a customer staring you in the face.

My colleague nevertheless, is a cracking salesman and told me about an idea on how to get a hundred or so names of potential customers from any old newspaper.

First start from page one and start to write down every name you see. For example If the article reads "Mr Jones got run over by Taxi when he was leaving the church. The minister Rev Thompson says he was one of the church elders". etc etc. Therefore Jones and Thompson go on the list. Go through every news item and write down all the names. When you have your list link real people to the names. Who do I know called Jones or Thompson. Who are their friends? These names will jog your memory and and you should have a massive list of people to visit and promote your business by the end of this project.

Secondly, go back to the first page and start again with the first story. Now ignore the names and concentrate on the items. Who do I know who drives a taxi. Who do I know who goes to church or is a minister, who has been knocked down? You get the idea. By the end of this you will have truck load of names to market your business to.

You may say but I do not want to do business with these people who are too close to me and my family. Well in that case you do not value the business you are marketing. You must have confidence and trust your product to be able to sell it.

Now go and ask your mother if she wants what you are selling before someone else gets in first.