The best place to meet your ideal prospect is everywhere they are.
If you were hoping to meet the love of your life, where would you start?
Probably, in a place where the kind of people you like hang out.
If you wanted to meet rich folks, would you be better off hanging out at the thrift store, or the golf club.
50+ Places to Meet Your Ideal Prospect
Offline, you move your feet to go and meet prospects. Or use the telephone. Yes, cold calls suck. But though it’s a numbers game, it’s still effective in 2023. Or you run print ads in publications your ideal prospect reads.
Online, you post content to blogs, yours or others. To forums. To social media platforms. You do podcasts or guest podcasts. All targeted to the places your ideal prospect is most likely to see it.
Each social media platform has its own dynamic. Some used mostly by older women. Some, younger folks. For example, if you wanted to connect with 20 year old men, posting on Facebook may not be your best option. You’d likely have better luck with TikTok.
The best place to meet your ideal prospect is wherever they typically hang out. There are plenty of research tools you can use to get this information, Google is a good starting place.
As promised in the previous post, here are 50+ Places where you can cross paths with and meet your ideal prospect. Places where you can pierce the prospects Bubble of Preoccupation. Focus on using the ones best suited to your ideal prospect. Automate content distribution whenever possible.
Remember, the more places they see you, the more they’ll believe you might just have something of value they can get from you.
50+ Best Places To Connect With Your Ideal Prospect
More. More More. Post more. Do more. Be more places. The more they run into you, the more familiar you’ll be. They’ll feel they know you. That’s 1/3 of the know-like-trust triangle which is optimal for making sales.
Be sure to download the Persuasion Tool Kit to help make generating and posting content easier. When you know your prospects Preoccupations, it’s so much easier to enter the conversation they are already having with themself about their problems and concerns. Speak to that.
The more you can talk about them and their concerns, the more they will be willing to listen to you.
As Blair Warren advises:
“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.” -Blair Warren-
I was six months married when my former Chinese girlfriend called.
She ask me to do something I’d never done before.
Without hesitation, I said “Yes!”
Then began making arrangements for her and I to meet in Tucson, Arizona in February 2005.
Let me put your concerns aside now, as I tell you what I told my new bride.
This was stricktly a business deal.
And this “thing” I’d never done before was marketing gemstones. Tibetan Sunstones to be exact.
Me too. I’d never heard of this. But soon enough I’d know everything about these sparkling red and color changing gemstones.
What I learned would get this young Chinese businesswoman:
A visa to the USA – when she had been denied one 4 times before
A booth to sell and show her gemstones – at the largest, oldest and most prestigious gem and mineral show – in the world!
Sponsored by the one of the most respected and recognized names at the event
An article written about her featured in the gemstone industry’s most respected scientific magazine, the quarterly “Gems and Gemology” Magazine.
$60,000 in wholesale gemstone sales the week after the show
Remember, I knew NOTHING about the business of gemstones when I said yes to taking on this marketing project.
So how did I arrange all of this in just 6 months?
— Research! —
The first step in marketing research is – find the who.
Dr. Benjamin Hardy, psychologist and author of several best selling books on acheiving success, would write a book some 10 years after my experience with this, titled, “Who Not How”.
The premise of his book being, instead of going through all the hard work of figuring out how to do something on your own, instead, find and ask someone who is already successful at what you wish to do.
A shortcut that will put you light years ahead.
Who can help you?
I let the great marketing giant Dan Kennedy’s words from several years prior be my guide.
I remember him say, that to prepare for his most successful promotions, he would spend days pouring over everything he could find in magazines at the library. Searching for a common thread, theme, player, or “hook”.
So off I went to the library. Not knowing one thing about the gemstone business or industry. Nothing. Not how they are mined, made, or sold.
I assembled stacks of industry magazines. Business and hobby. Must have been 2 piles, each a foot high.
One by one I flipped through page after page, searching for a thread to pull. A commonality. A name repeated. A theme. Recurring problems, concerns, or questions. Ads and their themes repeated across multiple issues – which showed they were successful at reaching gem buyers.
One name came up time and again. Intelligent. Respected. Successful. A household name in the industry who also happened to deal in sunstones.
The second step is knowing what THEY want.
Once I knew WHO my best prospect would be, I did a deep dive on him.
His personal history. His company’s history. What was his specialty? His passion? His problems and concerns. How could I contact him?
Contacting him is the “WHERE”. Our meeting place. The “place” where our paths cross on the Pictogram of Persuasion found in the “Persuasion Tool Kit”.
The path, or place, where you meet with the prospect may be physical, like at a store, a conference, or a meeting. Or virtual via email or advertisement. It might be when they see your video on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. Anywhere that you become known to them. Hopefully, you have a way for them to contact you so you can “meet” them too.
The third step is acting on what you know.
Not knowing any better, little old me emailed him. This industry giant. Multi-millionaire, international gemstone expert. Told him my story. Asked if he could help.
I had a secret weapon though. I came armed with an irresistable offer for him gleaned from my research. A tease.
See, from my extensive magazine reading, it was clear that these “Asian Sunstones” were popular and profitable. But no one knew the source of this variety.
My Chinese client claimed to own the mine. Or at least, “a mine”.
Through prior diligent research, I found and got to know my best prospect, and which big stick would most likely burst through his Bubble of Preoccupation.
I took a swing. And got his attention. Then cooperation.
Many folks research. Learn lots. But fail to act upon that knowledge.
Action is essential.
In the end…
He got something he wanted. I got something I wanted. And the Chinese businesswoman got what she wanted.
Win. Win. Win.
Success like this becomes possible when you take time to really understand the motives of the people you are dealing with.
When you understand:
Where they are at now.
What they want now.
What thoughts preoccupy their mind now
THEN you have your best chance at persuading them to do a thing.
The dealer got an opportunity to find the source, or at least good wholesale supplier.
The magazine got an interesting article for its readers – news.
The Chinese businesswoman got to attend a premier show, sponsored by it’s biggest name.
The Gem Show got publicity
The USA got a potential new trade source from China
To summarize:
Find your who (who do you wish to persuade)
Find out where they are at (everything you can – economically, socially, mentally, physically, problems)
Find out what they want (solutions to problems, status, gain)
Find how, what you want to accomplish, offer, or sell, can align with their needs and desires
Find a place to meet them
Present your well-researched offer
You can start from nothing, like I did here, and succeed. When you do your homework. Research.
Know them – and prosper.
The Persuasion Tool Kit will help you gather all the information you need to succeed.
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