Does THEIR Face on a Business Card Help in Setting Appointments?  Does Facebook work?  Does a picture say 999 words?  At least.

I used to think pictures on business cards or email v-cards were cheesy.  Then, when I was sorting through a stack of business cards looking for which (you guessed it) Realtor to call of the 15 cards I had in my hand, guess which ones I looked at first?  And then guess which one I called first?  Right, the one I recognized and remembered something pleasant about our encounter.  In fact, there were many cards from people I could not remember when there was no note or reminder or picture. 

Now here’s an idea:  Keeping an electronic image of your prospect or client in your contact manager will give you the effect of a "face to face" conversation when you call them claims Meilee Anderson of Seattle Southside as referenced by the Selling Sherpa.

Does YOUR Face on a Business Card Help in Setting Appointments?  As mentioned before, it certainly helps the recipient remember you.  And if you couple that with a picture of yourself (the same picture is best) on your email tag or v-card in your follow-up email, you’ve just increased your chances, don’t you think?  A couple things to remember:  No bedroom eyes, 20 year old pictures or pictures that plainly don’t look like you.

Professional portrait photographer, Lynn Dykstra of Focused Images, has an excellent information guide, Preparing for a Great Business Portrait™.  Send Lynn an email with your business contact information including your address so she can mail you the report.  You may also read her article, "Image Really IS Everything!"

It’s safe to say that a picture is a much more powerful associative anchor than simply a name.  You may stuggle with a name, but you’ll never forget a face.

I love cold-calling. 

Of course, I’m saying that after a successful call.  Did I set up an appointment?  No, but the decision -maker, the president of the company, is talking with the intended recipient of my services to make a decision — so I believe.  In my case, I was calling an old contact who had since left the company and instead of hanging up, I chose to hang on and turn my call into a success by asking for a decision maker.

When do I use cold-calling?

• When I have targeted a company or person and have no other leveraged way of introduction
• When my natural urge to travel, hunt and explore take over to create a desire to meet someone I’ve never spoken with before
• When I don’t feel like it
• When I want to practice and get better
• When the call turns cold because my intended contact is either not there or not picking up the phone
• When I want to see how good I really am at persuading or influencing someone who doesn’t know me, doesn’t trust me yet, and is looking for a reason not to like me
• When I want to grow a thicker skin
• When I want to face greater odds of failure to feel a greater reward of success
• When I want to lessen the chance of feeling rejected if the call doesn’t blossom into a next step

Lessen the chance of rejection?  Sure.  It’s harder for me to call someone I know and like and ask them for business than someone I don’t know because, if I’m turned down, I KNOW they’re not rejecting ME — how could they?  They don’t know me.  I get to re-establish the understanding that sales isn’t about me.  It never is and never will be.  I just have to do my job, just like a batter in a baseball game, and practice hitting balls and play the game every day without taking the outcome of the game personally.

And I don’t know a better way to test how good of a sales consultant I really am than to convert someone who doesn’t know me, has never heard of me, doesn’t know he needs me as much as I believe he needs me, into a client.

So, how much do you cold call and what’s your average outcome?

If you never want to cold call again, send an email to alliancescience at ownershelp.com for an amazing FREE report on how to get other people to set appointments for you with your ideal client prospect — people who don’t know you but already like and trust you. 

Flat on my back.

That’s how I’ve been most of Tuesday after being temporarily knocked out by the flu bug, unable to use my voice, my main tool for business.  This leaves me in a quandry as my job is to talk with people about mortgages, set appointments and write business.  Very simply, I don’t get paid unless I’m doing my job.  So, what are my alternatives to making money when I’m not available?

1. Wait for the phone to ring and call them back tomorrow
2. Pay for others to do my job
3. Communicate with my existing clients and prospects via email or other forms of non-verbal communication
4. Leverage other sales peoples ability to set appointments for me

The first alternative happened today, but my job being a pro-active one, waiting for the phone to ring doesn’t keep the lights on.  I’m grateful for the calls, but if I were out for more than a day, this answer would put me in the poorhouse.

As I build a team, I will be paying others to do their job, not necessarily mine.  Could they pick up the slack?  Absolutely.  In fact, it is wise to build a business which doesn’t need you.  But what do you do in the mean time?

If I had the energy (which I didn’t), I could’ve had other ways to reach my prospects and clients.  I would have sent emails or newsletters or voice broadcasts, etc.  Wouldn’t it have been nice if this was programmed and being done regardless if I were sick or not.

I did set appointments — or I should say, appointments were being set for me.  No, I don’t pay assistants or other co-workers to do this.  I’m part of an Advisor Alliance team where my other strategic partners such as a Realtor, an Insurance Specialist, a CPA and a Estate Specialist are describing the value of my consulting service with their prospects and setting an appointment for them to meet with me. 

So which of these is the most effective?  i.e. which of these cost the least time, energy and money?

Which of these do you practice?