Thursday, May 21, 2009

How to make your network work

Welcome to my Thursday morning Marketing Blog.
You may not believe it but you have at least 250 acquaintances.
These are people you know and who know you.
Your network is larger than you suspect.
Some will be clients, some prospects, some sources for referrals.
There are more than 5,000 names on my list.
I know people who have five times that number.
Creating your 250-name list will take time.
List everyone you know who might do business with you.
Also list those who won’t but could be a source of referrals.
Some places to look for names for your prospect list:
Your active clients, address book and Christmas card list.
Church and club directories. Chamber of commerce members.
High school and college friends. The Yellow pages.
Keep a small notebook with you to jot down their names.
Build an "A" list of your clients and hot prospects.
These are the folks who are hot for what you got.
Your "B" list will include those who can refer you to prospects.
What are you going to do with this list?
We’ll talk about that next week. But go ahead and get started.
This is a key strategy in my book, "How to Peel a Green Banana".
Ruth King and I will be talking about this book at 10 a.m. Friday.
Watch the 30-minute interview at www.ProfitabilityChannel.com
You’ll learn how to peel a green banana and other cool stuff.
Want a free trial subscription to my Advertising & Marketing Letter?
Email me at JerryBellune@yahoo.com

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

How to peel a green banana

Welcome to my Tuesday morning Business Blog.
Today we’ll talk about finding shortcuts to success in business.
It’s far easier to do anything if a mentor shows you how.
You miss the thrill of discovery but you avoid most of the mistakes.
Here’s a little story that illustrates the point.
When I first earned a newspaper delivery route, I had a problem.
My route started three miles from the publisher’s home.
He was an early riser and wanted his newspaper by 5:30 a.m.
The district manager told me the paper had to be there by 5:30.
What was I to do? My Dad solved this problem.
We bought the biggest basket we could find for my bike.
I loaded the papers in my basket and biked to the publisher’s home.
He got the first paper. Then I delivered the rest of the route.
At Christmas, his wife have me $20 and a note:
"Thanks for getting the paper here on time every morning."
That’s why I wrote my sales book, "How to Peel a Green Banana".
It contains the seven key strategies other sales people taught me.
It took months, maybe years, off my learning curve.
Ruth King and I will be talking about this book at 10 a.m. Friday.
Watch the 30-minute interview at www.ProfitabilityChannel.com
You’ll learn how to peel a green banana and other cool stuff.
Want a free trial subscription to my Advertising & Marketing Letter?
Email JerryBellune@yahoo.com
Write "Free trial subscription" in the subject line.
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