The 8 Sales Prospecting Mindsets of Top Earners Pt 6: Networking

By Jeff Shore

You want your friends to be successful, and they want you to be successful. It sounds like you might be in a position to help each other. When building great prospecting habits, let’s not forget about networking.

When you’re going out to prospect, wouldn’t it be great if those prospects already know you? Wouldn’t it be great if you were already connected to them in some way and they were looking forward to your call?

Good news! It’s possible to have that in your own prospecting experience.

It’s all about using your network. Think about it; there are people in your network, and you want them to be successful. And guess what? They reciprocate; they want you to be successful.

I think about a friend, a sales author, and a thinker named Anthony Iannarino. You’re missing out if you’ve never read his books, The Only Sales Guide You Will Ever Need, The Lost Art of Closing, and Eat Their Lunch. Many people call him the “smartest guy in sales” and I assure you won’t be disappointed.

Not only is he a brilliant thinker, but he’s also very well-connected. Anthony is a friend of mine. I want him to be successful. He’ll call me and say, “Hey Jeff, I need a favor over here.” To which I gladly comply. I’ll call him and ask for a favor, and he’ll gladly reciprocate.

That’s how networks work. It’s not just about being connected with somebody else. It’s about wanting for their success and them wanting for your success.

I want to challenge you to be thinking along the same lines. I’ve got an assignment for you. I want you to make two lists. The first list is of people you know and would be easy to reach out to. You would be comfortable reaching out to them. The second list is people you know but wouldn’t be so comfortable reaching out to. It’d be okay, but still a little bit uncomfortable. You should end up with two significant lists. Then, look at both lists and prioritize.

You might as well start with the easy one first. Look at that list of people you already feel comfortable with and ask yourself this critically important question. What can I do for them? Not what can I get from them? What can I do for them?

The best way to build your network into a network of people who are willing not just to help you be successful but to let you make them successful. The best way to do that is to start the process. You figure out how to invest in them first. Otherwise, all you’re doing is taking advantage of people.

How do I feed, and how do I fuel that network? You will want to go to your network and ask, how do I make it easy for them to help me? If you’re looking for a connection, if you’re looking for an introduction, think through what they are going to have to do, and then make it easy. If you ask them to email someone, write the email for them. Ask them, “Would you mind cutting and pasting the two sentences below into a new email so that you can make an introduction.”

Ask yourself if I’m going to ask this person to help. How do I make it easy for them to help? If they were asking it from you, wouldn’t that make you so much more willing and appreciative to help if they were making it easy? 

You’re asking them to do something for you, so make it easy for them to do just that.

We give first and then make it easy for them to help us. So that’s what I want you focusing in on. Start with the ones you’re comfortable with. Ask the question, have I poured enough into these people and into their success to be able to ask them for something? And if I have, what do I want to ask them for? And how do I make it easy for them to make that connection for me?

Here’s the good news. When you use your network, you are leveraging on the relational capital they have already built into the person you want to talk to. It’s all a matter of trust. If that person trusts your network peer  and they trust what that person says, and that person says something about you that’s valuable, then that trust transfers over to you even before you make the call.

How cool is that? Gone are the days when we have to pick up the phone, randomly call people, and hope to strike up a conversation. Use your network and prospect your way to success. 

Until next time friends learn more to earn more!