My cold prospecting “Cringe” technique

Did we burn, nuke, and destroy our warm market when we started in network marketing? I did.

That was the first step in my network marketing career. A lot of pain and no progress.

I walked around looking for new prospects. Above my head, I had a sign that said, “I make people uncomfortable for fun.” I could ruin someone’s day by approaching them.

My cold prospecting was so awkward that I put strangers into therapy. It is hard to wipe those ugly memories from my brain.

But, things got better.

Learning better words and opening sentences helped, but I still missed the big picture. You see, I was fishing in the wrong pond. The locations I chose were working against me.

For example?

Imagine we were looking for a romantic partner. We enter a business office and start chatting up one of the employees. Yuck! This will not work. Even if that person is a great prospect for us, the environment of staring coworkers will make this uncomfortable.

We move on. Next, we stop by a funeral in progress. Nothing like a little small talk between sobs, right? Somehow things don’t feel right. Sort of a negative vibe in this group. No romantic prospects here.

Finally, we try to stop people on a busy sidewalk. It is starting to look like dodgeball. People walk as far away from us as possible. A cup of coffee in one hand, the other hand holding their phone to their ear as they power walk past us. They treat us like a traffic cone.

To our amazement, we connect with no one. And, this all feels a bit creepy too!

What was I missing?

I was missing … location! I was fishing in the wrong pond.

A good rule to remember when cold prospecting? 

Location matters.

Will this same rule apply to our Internet cold prospecting? Of course. Sending our network marketing prospecting messages to members of the “We Love Our Government Job” discussion group … well, it could get ugly.

Yes, prospects are everywhere, but we should choose locations that have a better chance of success. 

Examples?

Where should we go if we sell nutritional supplements? A weekend farmers market makes sense. To help things, we could wear a T-shirt that says, “I love tofu” or “Ask me about mushrooms” to kickstart easier conversation.

Oh, this makes better sense than attending the “Texas All-You-Can-Eat Fried-Food Festival.” I think they call this the state fair in Texas.

What if we sell women’s skincare? If they care about their face, they care about their shoes. It wouldn’t be hard to start a conversation with a shoe-shopping stranger at the shoe mall by mentioning that we just found the cutest shoes over there.

When we are in a location with common interests, our opening sentences don’t feel out of place.

Want to find people who love business and side hustles? Every business networking group is filled with these pre-qualified people. Prospecting conversations are expected.

The lesson?

Don’t fight the environment. Use the location to make opening conversations easier.

Because success isn’t just about what we say.

It’s also about where we stand when we say it.